Night Shift
by MrsEm
Summary: Night shift in the sick bay of the U.S.S. Enterprise can be one of the most boring things known to mankind, it's true! They've carried out scientific studies and everything! So, a Doctor could easily find themselves doing some strange things to stave off said boredom. Complete fluff, enjoy! X
1. Chapter 1

Lorna Heiland lay on one of the medical beds located furthest away from the main entrance. Staring up at the ceiling her hands went delicately to the hem of her blue tunic skirt, ensuring her modesty was intact. Brushing down the fabric she let her hands come to rest on her stomach, each finger intertwining with the other. Feeling a slight rumble she regretted skipping dinner, the decision to nap instead of eat before her shift now appearing to be short-sighted. She concentrated on her breathing, in and out, in and out. The bay was so quiet she could hear one of her nostrils whistling as she inhaled, sniffing to combat the unintentional melody she was creating Lorna looked to her right, toward the large doorway.

Still no one.

She was the sole Doctor on duty in the main medical bay, drawing the short straw earlier in the month when, for some unknown reason to her, every other Doctor had managed to approve their leave with the CMO before her so that they could attend the First Officer's Birthday festivities. She picked at her fringe with her fingers, the light ash coloured hair falling to the sides of her temple rather than resting straight against her eyebrows as it did when she was upright. Her hair only fell to below her ears so she wasn't worried that she would be sporting ' _bed-head_ ' if anyone were to come in. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a moment, she didn't feel tired but she was one of those individuals who could fall asleep anywhere and everywhere at a drop of a hat so she always had to be careful. She cringed as she recalled the time she'd just arrived back from a seven day humanitarian mission to one of the newest members of the Federation. She was dead on her feet but the Captain had gathered all the medical staff in the lounge to congratulate them on their successful endeavours. Again, drawing the short straw she had been seated next to Doctor McCoy who had always filled her with dread and nervousness. Lorna had found herself sitting stock still, not dare moving in case she brushed against his shoulder and be reprimanded on the spot. As the Captain had droned on about ' _universal liberty, rights and equality_ ' Lorna had felt her eyelids begin to flutter, willing herself to stay awake she dug her nails into her palms in a desperate attempt to stay awake. It had been to no avail however and she had finally succumbed to her exhaustion and, when her eyes had closed and not re-opened, she had been unconscious to the fact that her head had slowly, gently, comically come to rest on McCoy's shoulder.

McCoy on his part didn't move, not even a stunned flinch. He just allowed the sleeping Doctor to rest her noggin on his shoulder until Kirk closed the proceedings and people began to dissipate. The subsequent 'awakening' had been interesting to say the least.

Lorna decided to hum, no tune in particular but it was a pleasant enough pastime. She found herself hoping for a small, teeny tiny plasma explosion in Engineering. Just enough to injure maybe three or four? She could line them up on the beds and work through them as if they were on a conveyer belt.

"What's wrong with you?!" She said to herself, when her stomach rumbled again Lorna pulled herself up and swung her legs over the side. Jumping down and walking towards the small breakout area she shook her head so that her fringe fell back across her forehead. Replicating a cup of tea Lorna stood and looked around the bay, everything was in pristine order, each and every piece of apparatus neatly put in its place. Setting her cup down on the side she made her way over to the store cupboard, looking up at the high shelf and seeing all the perfectly folded blankets Lorna pursed her lips in deliberation. Grabbing hold of the two blankets on the bottom of the piles she pulled, ducking her head as the covers fell on top of her.

And that's how the next hour of Lorna's evening was taken up; folding blankets and re-stocking the cupboard. She'd taken to humming again, and with a little flourish of her hips and feet she danced to her own tune.

For half an hour she spun on one of the stools that usually sat under the research station, spinning round and round she held on to the seat with her legs splayed out in front of her. When she began to feel too dizzy she tried pushing herself from the station table, seeing how far she could get. When she made it past three whole beds but nearly tipped over she realised that perhaps it wasn't one of the best ideas she'd had and neatly tidied the stool away.

The full body medical scan she gave herself took a whole ten minutes, the magnetic resonance imaging test she took of her brain even less. Lorna finally stumbled upon a little game she liked to call 'Throwing stuff in a bowl'. Overarm, underarm, from far away, up close. It was pretty exciting stuff! After a particularly difficult shot she threw her arms in the air and made the sound of a cheering audience as she jogged around the imaginary playing field.

"And the crowd goes wild!" She shouted as she took her victory lap, blowing kisses to the applauding crowd and high-fiving her imaginary teammates.

It turned out, if she arranged all the Tricorders on a bed in front of her and set each one off at different intervals, she could just about re-create the song 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon'.

"Huh? Who knew?!"

She'd forgotten how difficult star jumps were, huffing and holding on to her breasts as she exercised in the middle of the bay for a solid three minutes.

Entering each private consultation room playing a different character was fun.

Consultation Room One: "Oh my word! A surprise party! I had no idea!" Lorna's hands were on her cheeks as she looked shocked and amazed at the pretend gathering.

Consultation Room Two: "You have three seconds to gather up all your stuff and get your cheating arse out of my house!" Pointing her finger Lorna spoke angrily at the fictitious male.

Consultation Room Three: "That's right Captain Kirk, I'm the Captain now!" With her hands on her hips Lorna did her best evil laugh.

Consultation Room Four: "Please, for the love of God, don't leave! I love you!" Lorna shouted the last one the loudest, pretending to cry and throwing herself against the wall dramatically.

CMO's Office: "Hey Darlin'." Lorna's impression of Doctor McCoy's Southern drawl was just plain awful as she held on to the doorframe and swung herself in seductively, winking her eye and blowing a kiss into the air.

"Hey." She screamed when she heard McCoy answer with a similarly soft, slow, liquid sounding drawl reminiscent of a well-educated society person from northern Georgia. Looking up from his PADD and smiling at her he waited for her to make the next move. Throwing her hands over her heart she jumped up and down on the spot from the sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Shit!" She shouted at him before running from his office, which wasn't what he was expecting if he were being honest. Standing in the middle of the bay Lorna looked around for something to do, something to make her look busy at the very least! Anything! Deciding on re-arranging all the hyposprays she cringed inwardly. "Shit shit shit."

"Goodnight Doctor Heiland." Her back going rod straight she turned and saw McCoy walking out, an unadulterated smile on his face.

"Goodnight Doctor McCoy." She replied, still grimacing. As the door closed behind him Lorna let out a long ragged breath. "Shit!"

* * *

Leonard McCoy sat in his office catching up on the pile of long overdue reports, just outside, in the medical bay he could hear Doctor Lorna Heiland go about her duties, she was the sole Doctor on duty in the main medical bay, apparently drawing the short straw earlier in the month when he had approved everybody's leave before hers. Looking up to his open door he realised it had gone quiet, when in the ensuing minutes no other noise came curiosity got the better of him so he gently put down his PADD and slowly peered round his doorframe. Spoting Lorna Heiland lying down on one of the medical beds located furthest away from the main entrance he hid himself quickly. Looking again he watched in interest as she stared up at the ceiling, brushed down her uniform and breathed in and out heavily. McCoy looked around the bay and saw that she was on her own, he contemplated going out and rebuking her for her unprofessionalism, then he considered just saying hello but the pile of reports on his desk were looming over him, swearing and muttering under his breath he returned to his desk listening to Doctor Heiland hum to herself. When they first started working together he found her humming infuriating but he soon realised she was completely unware of doing it and slowly but surely he found it comforting, a pleasant distraction from the sometimes eerily silent medical bay.

"What's wrong with you?!" McCoy was distracted again from his report by Lorna talking to herself again, smiling he wondered for a moment if he should make her aware of him being there? He was pulled back into his work though before he'd made a decision and besides, she had seemingly gone quiet.

An hour later and McCoy was signing off one report and picking up another; not before hearing Doctor Heiland humming again. Making his way round his desk he peered round the doorframe again, smiling a little when he spotted her in the store cupboard surrounded by disorganised blankets. He knew she must have pulled them off the shelf because he'd instructed Nurse Matta to fold them all before she'd finished her shift. He watched the experienced Doctor expertly fold each blanket and then place them neatly on the shelf, rocking her hips from side to side in time with her own tune.

Another report done and McCoy rubbed his hands over his face wearily, as he rested his head against his palms he listened to the wheels of one of the stools slide along the floor just outside his office. He watched Lorna for a full ten minutes throw things into a bowl, the look of concentration on her face perfectly endearing to him. He had to stifle a laugh when she ran round, her hands in the air after one very successful and impressive shot.

"And the crowd goes wild!" He found himself feeling guilty for spying on her but he'd left it too late, if he walked out now she would know he'd been there the entire time and feel embarrassed. He did sit back down though, finding the sound of Tricorders recreating 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon' quite relaxing.

He refused to get up when he heard her huffing and puffing, not really wanting to know what she was up!

He could hear her talking again and sat back to listen.

"Oh my word! A surprise party! I had no idea!"

"What the hell is she doing now?" He whispered to himself.

"You have three seconds to gather up all your stuff and get your cheating arse out of my house!" McCoy's brow creased in confusion, who the hell was she shouting at?

"That's right Captain Kirk, I'm the Captain now!" That one made him laugh, especially the over the top laugh.

"Please, for the love of God, don't leave! I love you!" McCoy cringed at the last one, far too dramatic!

"Hey Darlin'." Seeing her appear at his door, swinging seductively on the doorframe and… was she trying to do a Southern accent? Well McCoy couldn't help but smirk at the look of sheer terror that slowly seeped over her face.

"Hey." McCoy found himself answering and then jumping in his seat when Lorna screamed at the top of her voice in fright.

"Goddamnit Lorna!"

"Shit!" He watched her leave quickly, sitting and wondering whether or not he should go speak to her McCoy signed off his last report and turned off his desk light. As he walked out into the bay he saw that she was busying herself with re-arranging the hyposprays. "Shit shit shit." He decided to leave her alone when he heard her cursing under her breath, he could tell she was mortified and he wasn't about to make her feel worse by laughing at her or trying to make small talk.

"Goodnight Doctor Heiland." Not being able to stop himself from smiling at her, he made his way out. In the corridor he stopped and shook his head, he hadn't thought it was possible but somehow he found himself liking her even more than he already did.

* * *

 _ **I really have no idea where this came from?! I think it was in response to my last story being so sad! Short and sweet and fluffy! Hope you enjoyed? XOXO ;-) LLAP**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**I never write anything before a story/chapter but I wanted to say how glad I was you enjoyed Night Shift! Thank you.**_

* * *

"It's not funny!"

"I'm not laughing!"

"You are! You're smiling and sound is coming from your gob very much reminiscent of laughter!" Lorna stood with her hands on her hips whilst glaring at Doctor Kostas.

"I know, I am, I'm sorry." Kostas tried to straighten their face.

"Again, I don't think that you are?!" Lorna huffed and grabbed the PADD from the Doctor's hands, looking over the list of patients currently taking residence in the medical bay she nodded slowly.

"They won't give you any trouble; all three are pretty heavily sedated." Looking over Lorna rolled her eyes.

"Right, thank you."

"You are most welcome." Kostas smiled and began making their way out of the medical bay. "You're literally skipping Kostas!" She shouted after them watching as the door slid shut and she was left on her own. Drawing the short straw ' _again_ ' Lorna found herself working the graveyard shift, she'd begun to suspect something fishy was going on but couldn't prove that any of the other Doctors were stitching her up! There was the three Engineers currently taking up bed one, two and three and all three were fast asleep, no surprise there. Lorna walked over quietly and checked on their readings, other than the plasma burns they'd suffered which Kostas had already healed they were really only there to rest up and be discharged by McCoy in the morning. Letting a long huff blow out her lips she looked around the bay, noticing that McCoy's office door was open the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Making her way over she peered round the doorframe heaving a sigh of relief when she didn't see him there sat at his desk.

Pulling up a stool next to bed four she finished writing the three reports ready for the Engineer's discharge, humming away to herself she took another quick look around the deserted medical bay, pulling her earbuds from her coat pocket which she shuck off and threw onto the bed she hastily pushed them into her ears and pressed play on the music player. She was facing the three Engineers and the music was quiet enough that if anything were to happen she would definitely notice. Definitely. Very quickly the stylus she was using became her drumstick against the side of the bed as she rocked out to whatever song was playing into her ears.

" _Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise. Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies!"_

Spinning on the stool Lorna's amazing air guitar skills lifted her to her feet and had her strutting across the bay.

" _And if, you don't love me now. You will never love me again. I can still hear you saying… You would never break the chain!"_

After blowing a kiss out to her adoring audience she made her way back to the stool and picking up her pen, carried on drumming through the next song. Tapping her foot and getting a little too big for her boots she threw the pen in the air as she'd seen all those rock and roll drummers do, the thing inevitably going flying when she didn't catch it and it rolled under a piece of nearby apparatus.

"Shit!" Lorna muttered, standing from her stool and going off in search for it. On her hands and knees with the music still playing in her ears she pressed her cheek to the cold floor, trying to see under the equipment. She became painfully aware that her arse was sticking in the air and with the length of the tunic she was sporting, well, her older brother would have said that if anybody were to come in they would have been able to tell what she'd had for breakfast! "Aha!" Spotting the pen at the back against the wall she squeezed her hand under the tight space, gently pushing until her hand popped through the gap into the larger space underneath.

Immediately Lorna panicked, knowing enough 'stuff' about 'stuff' that sometimes one thing will fit one way but not the other.

"No no no no no…" Forgetting the pen she tried to pull her hand back. "Shit." Panic set in as Lorna tried to squeeze her hand back from under the heavy equipment. Letting her body fall flat against the floor she took a couple of calm inducing breaths, her internal monologue telling her that number one, she was an idiot and number two, everything would be fine. She grimaced as she watched the reddened skin of her hand smush up against the metal, peering up she frantically began to work out another way of freeing herself.

Could she lift the entire thing?

A mental image of her head being splattered across the pristine white floor came to mind, the whole trolley landing atop of her and nobody finding her body until the morning! The music in her ears had become an annoyance very quickly, with her right hand being the one trapped and the music player being in her coat pocket that was still laying on the bed above she had to contort herself in some horrible yoga inspired move. So she reached round with her left hand to try and grab the bottom of the coat and lay her hand on the small device, shutting down the guitar rift that was currently sound-tracking her predicament. No such luck, pulling the buds from her ears she put them next to her head, the faint music still audible. Bed four was between her and the three men sleeping, she couldn't see a damned thing! The main entrance was way over on the over side also, so if anybody were to come in they wouldn't immediately see her and vice versa.

"Hey." Lorna shook her head at her own attempt at getting help, she hadn't even shouted the word, still very much hoping she could release herself without making anybody else aware of her calamity. After lying there for a while she tried again. "Hello?" She was a little louder that time but not by much.

Maybe she could twist her arm so that she was facing upwards?

"This is going to work." She spurred herself on with the not so convincing pep talk and began slowly easing herself over so that she was now lying on her back. Her shoes squeaked against the floor as she now found herself starfished between bed four and five, easing her hand back out she swore under her breath when her A Team level plan did not, in fact, come together. Desperate times called for desperate measures so finally Lorna swallowed her pride (what was left of it) and shouted out for one of the Engineers to wake up. When not even a snore emanated from the three sleeping darlings Lorna racked her brain trying to remember if Kostas had prescribed a tranquilizer so strong it would keep a Gorn asleep through an earthquake! Resigning herself to the fact that she was well and truly stuck she crossed her legs and tried to get comfortable. After perhaps fifteen minutes of counting the rivets under the bed Lorna put the earbuds back in and began listening to her music.

By the time the album had run through every song, her singing along with each and every one of them and the first song had started up again Lorna's arse had gone numb, time for a change in position.

Twisting herself back on to her front she rested her head against her free forearm. She started reciting every bone in the human body; "Cervical vertebrae (seven bones), Thoracic vertebrae (twelve bones), Lumbar vertebrae (five bones), Sacral vertebrae (five bones at birth, fused into one after adolescence)…Coccygeal vertebrae." She was putting herself to sleep! "Don't. Fall. Asleep." Lorna widened her eyes, as if that would do any good. Next on the list to prevent entering the wonderful world of slumber was narrating her life. Wither her face smushed against her arm she stared off into the distance, the cold floor making her shiver uncontrollably.

"Lorna Heiland lay on the floor of the medical bay, her hand trapped by invisible forces not known to her or the dimension she existed in. There was nobody left, no one had survived the attack!" The incredibly overdramatic tone made her laugh but she quickly lost interest in that story.

"No! Leave me! Save yourself!" Scrunching up her face she tried to make herself cry, she'd always been impressed by people who could do that. "I love you too, go, go now!" Rubbing her nose against her sleeve she thought of other scenarios.

"It had been a day like any other when Doctor… Detective Lorna Heiland walked casually towards her office." Lorna found herself speaking like a 1930's American Private Eye.

Her boobs were starting to hurt.

"Seeing the man stood waiting for her Detective Heiland stopped, hip cocked as she lit a cigarette. Peering through the smoke she gave the fella a smile, Can I help you sweetheart? she asked. I'm looking for Detective Heiland Ma'am? The man said as he stared at her pins."

Lorna crossed her legs, she definitely didn't need to use the toilet!

"You're looking at her she said as she approached the man, what's your name Sweetheart?" She ran out of story shortly after so decided to try and wake up one of the Engineers again. "For the love of God and all that is holy wake up!" She shouted.

Nothing.

Pulling one of her boots off she threw it over onto the nearest Engineer where it just sat mockingly on the sleeping man's chest.

If she could remember the words to that song about counting green bottles on a wall she would certainly be singing it!

"Communicator!" Hastily flipping herself back onto her back Lorna already knew that she couldn't reach her Doctor's coat with the communicator attached to the lapel with her left hand, but she could try with her feet. Swinging a leg towards the garment it mockingly wafted in the breeze she created. "I give up." Closing her eyes Lorna settled in for the long wait till dawn or perhaps she would be lucky and there'd be a medical emergency and somebody would rush in before that? "Yeah right, fat chance!" What did she care?! This wouldn't be the first time she'd made a complete arse of herself. And that was that, her eyes closed and like in any other situation she found herself in she was asleep in a matter of minutes.

* * *

"Doctor Heiland?" Lorna could have sworn she heard something? "Lorna?"

"Hmmm? Five more minutes…" Trying to turn over to get comfortable she struggled against her arm.

"Stay still damnit!" That did it, Lorna's eyes shot open, her vision filled with Doctor McCoy.

"Shit." She watched McCoy smirk and then catch himself, straightening his face as his hands came to grip her wrist and begin to pull gently.

"What've you got yourself into this time Lorna?" McCoy muttered as he kneeled beside her and tried to pry her hand out. Looking up at him Lorna felt her cheeks burning red with embarrassment, "It's not budging, hang on." Standing McCoy carefully straddled Lorna's body, placing his feet either side of her. "I'm going to tilt the thing, try and pull your arm free."

"Sure thing sweetheart." She replied, 1930's Private Eye fashion.

"What did you say?" McCoy peered down at her, eyebrow arched.

"I said yes Doctor McCoy." Lorna smiled back nervously. Narrowing his eyes at her in disbelief McCoy went ahead and pushed allowing just enough room for Lorna to pull her arm free. Exhausted, she didn't even try to get up, her legs full of pins and needles and her arm throbbing above her head. McCoy was back down and kneeling beside her in an instant, checking over her bruised arm and watching with alarm as the woman beside him began to laugh.

"Damnit woman you've gone insane!" He theatrically whispered as he heaved her up into a sitting position. "What the hell happened?"

"My pen fell on the floor…" Lorna looked at him and found he was already staring at her. "Seven hours ago."

"Can you get up?"

"My legs are numb." Shaking his head McCoy shifted one of his arms so that he had her legs hooked over it, pulling her up Lorna struggled to stop herself from shaking.

"Are you cold?" McCoy asked, unaware of the effect he was having on her but all too aware of the effect having her in his arms was on him.

"A tad." She confessed, a violent shiver running through her as she spoke.

"Why didn't you comm anybody?"

"My communicator was on my coat lapel that I'd taken off…"

"What about these three?"

"I tried, they wouldn't wake up."

"And nobody came in?" When Lorna didn't answer his last question he looked down. "You have got to be kidding me?!" Seeing her asleep in his arms McCoy rolled his eyes, setting her down on the couch in his office he pulled a blanket over her and finished off healing her wrist. Watching her sleep he found himself smiling. "You're crazy you know that?" He said knowing he wouldn't wake her.

 **The End**

* * *

 _ **I originally thought this was going to be a one off but I like the character of Lorna too much and a few more ideas sprung to mind! Not sure though, I may be weakening the first chapter by adding more and they well not be as funny? Quit while you're ahead and all that! Let me know what you think and as always, thank you for reading. LLAP ;-) XOXO**_


	3. Chapter 3

Slapping her neck Lorna looked down at the mushed bug on her hand and grimaced. She was hot, sweaty and fed up. Traipsing through a jungle wasn't her idea of a good time! Her long fringe was plastered against her forehead and she could feel her uniform sticking awkwardly to her arms, torso and legs. They'd been walking for about two hours, McCoy and herself, and she had kept herself busy by humming. A bit of Mozart, Klingon Opera and Orion Pop had saved her sanity as she slowly lead the way, closely followed by McCoy through the overgrowth. Her internal monologue narrated their journey, not as two Starfleet Doctors but as intrepid adventurers on the hunt for fortune and glory.

"Legend has it that McCoy and Heiland retrieved the sacred Sivalinga stone stolen from the village's shrine from evil forces in the nearby Pankot Palace." She whispered to herself as she continued to lead the way. "Along their epic journey they encountered many a strange place and person…" Lorna trailed off as she glanced down at her tricorder.

"Everything alright Heiland?" McCoy asked from behind, not before stifling a laugh in response to her mutterings.

"Yes, I think it's a little further this way?" McCoy came to stand by her side and look at the readouts himself, watching Lorna gesture in front of them he nodded and the pair carried on side by side. The leaf covered ground beneath them fell away and Lorna felt the air in her lungs empty as she fell. With no warning neither of them made a sound until they hit the ground, when both of them gasped loudly and groaned in pain. Turning over Lorna saw that McCoy was beside her, frowning and holding his chest.

"Doctor McCoy? Are you alright?" She asked, pulling herself to her knees and looking around at their surroundings.

"Just had the wind knocked out of me, what happened? Did we fall into a cave or something?" Lorna started to shake her head slowly.

"Not a cave Sir, I don't think so?" Looking up she took in the shape of the hole. "No… not a cave." Standing she brought her hand up to the muddy wall that encircled them. "This is man-made." She said, looking at McCoy who had gone wide-eyed.

"What? You mean we fell into a trap?" He asked as he came to touch the chiselled wall himself, Lorna nodded slowly.

"Perhaps." Lorna tried to dig her hands into the wall, to try and get a purchase so that maybe she could climb out but every time she grabbed a stone or root the soft, wet ground fell away. "They found themselves captured by the evil forces, intent on stopping them from their quest to achieve fortune and glory." Her story had just become more intriguing. "Perhaps if you give me a leg up?" She suggested, turning to McCoy.

"A what?"

"I might be able to reach the top if I sit on your shoulders?" Lorna proposed, McCoy just looked at her sceptically.

"Fine, come on then." Kneeling McCoy failed to stop from laughing as Lorna ungainly planted herself on his shoulders, the entire state of affairs feeling incredibly bizarre to them both. "Alright? I'm going to get up." As McCoy stood Lorna began to wobble and panicked, grabbing at his head and covering his eyes with her hands. "Lorna! I can't see!" He shouted out at her.

"Sorry!" Lorna shouted back, standing facing the wall Lorna tried to grab at the top of the hole but they were still at least a foot away from the opening. "Maybe if I stand on your shoulders?" She shouted down.

"Be careful!" Planting her hand on top of his head Lorna slowly pulled her right leg up until her foot was positioned on his shoulder.

"Don't move!" She barked down at him when she began to wobble.

"I'm not moving!" Using all the strength in her legs she pulled her other leg up, McCoy's hands instinctively grabbing her ankles to try and keep her steady.

"You okay?" Lorna asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"If we ever get out of this hole we could take our show on the road!" She heard McCoy chuckle.

"As what? The world's worst circus performers?" It was her turn to laugh, but as she still couldn't reach the top her smile faded quickly.

"I can't reach!" Her voice was strained as she continued to reach up over her head.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Her arms fell dejectedly to her sides and she peered down to see McCoy looking up at her.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know? I don't know how I get down?" Twisting her head round she began to panic.

"Can you not climb back down?" McCoy's legs were beginning to burn.

"That's what I'm saying?! I don't know?"

"Well we can't just stay like this, try damnnit!" Lorna braced herself against the wall as she tentatively began to lower one leg but as she did McCoy took it upon himself to turn around.

"What are you doing?!" Lorna asked alarmed.

"I thought maybe I could catch you?" McCoy answered flustered, instantly questioning his own plan but it was too late and Lorna continued to lower herself. Back of knee came to rest on shoulder, then leg came to wrap around waist, during which crotch faced face, proceeded by boobs facing face. Until finally, with a thump Lorna landed on her backside on the floor whilst McCoy cleared his throat. "I guess that's one way?" He murmured as he held out his hand towards her, pulling her up they stretched out their aching muscles. Looking around they both quickly ran out of ideas until McCoy audibly groaned and pulled his tricorder from his belt.

"McCoy to Enterprise, come in." He shouted gruffly, with Lorna watching on expectantly.

Nothing.

"McCoy to Enterprise, come in damnnit."

Nothing.

"Maybe we're too far down?" Lorna mused, knowing her observation wasn't helping matters. For the next ten minutes the pair stood and pondered, there was no way out, the hole was man-made but for what reason? To catch animals? A meal? Or to catch them? They weren't aware of the inhabitants being a threat; still, it was hard not to go to worst case scenario.

"Give me your tricorder." McCoy instructed Lorna who quickly complied.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she watched him tap away on the apparatus.

"I'm setting up a beacon, somebody should pick up on it sooner rather than later." With that McCoy lobbed the thing up and over the side of the hole.

* * *

"Would you rather be a Gorn with a Human brain or a Human with a Gorn's brain?" Lorna asked after around an hour of being sat doing nothing and when the silence had become too much.

"What?" McCoy looked up at her confused.

"Would you rather…" She repeated.

"No I head you Heiland, what the hell kind of question is that?" His legs were splayed out in front of him, the same as Lorna's.

"My question." Lorna doubled down.

"Damned ridiculous question, that's what that is!" After a while McCoy looked back up at her. "Gorn with a Human brain." He answered reluctantly whilst rolling his eyes, Lorna grinned in response, happy that he was finally playing along.

"Your turn."

"My turn what?" McCoy's eyebrow was arched so severely Lorna had to bite her lip to stop from laughing.

"To ask a question."

"What's your favourite colour?" He finally asked half-heartedly.

"No, it has to be a 'would you rather' question." Lorna clarified, pulling her legs up and crossing them.

"Would you rather… Christ Heiland I have no idea!" Throwing his hands in the air McCoy re-arranged his back against the wall.

"Do you want me to ask the questions?" She had taken pity on him.

"Sure, why not." He really couldn't have cared less.

"Would you rather have fingers for toes or toes for fingers?"

"Fingers for toes." He answered straight away.

"Would you rather eat soup every day or never again?"

"Never again."

"Would you rather only be allowed to speak very loud or very quiet?"

"Very loud."

"Would you rather…"

"Lorna."

"Yes?"

"Enough."

* * *

McCoy had dozed off around a half hour ago and during that time Lorna had stood and stretched, hoping that perhaps there had been something they'd missed and a way out.

"The evil forces had trapped the two adventurers, forcing them to think on their feet, time was running out and the villagers were depending on them to return the sacred stone." A crack of thunder and lightning made Lorna's head snap up and when she felt the first droplet of rain on her cheek she swore under her breath. Feeling her resolve weaken she kicked at the wall in despair. When her foot lodged into the mix of wood, rock and roots she swore again.

"What's wrong?" Turning she saw that McCoy was awake and bringing himself to his feet.

"Nothing." Lorna turned back to her foot and began to pull frantically.

"Don't lie to me Lorna, what have you done?" Coming to stand beside her McCoy looked from her foot to her face.

"Nothing, I may have got my leg stuck?" She answered still trying to pull her leg free.

"How did you do that?" Without so much as a word McCoy grabbed her calf and began to pull, the rain was beating down on them both now and McCoy was losing his grip. When at one point his hands slipped off her boot and whacked her in the boobs McCoy muttered a quick apology and then stood still, revaluating their approach. "How do you do it Lorna?!" He asked exasperated.

"How do I do what?" She asked back, trying to keep her balance.

"How do get yourself into these situations?!" He spat the rain out of his mouth as he spoke and then coming to stand behind her, slowly wrapped his arms round her waist. "On the count of three." His breath against her ear made Lorna shiver, she nodded wordlessly.

"One." His grip tightened.

"Two." Lorna closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.

"Three." With a colossal tug the pair went careening back, Lorna landing on McCoy with an almighty oomph. The twosome just lay there, one on top of the other, panting and not quite believing the situation that they had found themselves in. Finally rolling over and off of McCoy Lorna sat up and ran her muddy hands through her muddy hair.

"Perhaps the hole will fill with water, and we'll be able to float our way out?" She mused as McCoy righted himself and sat beside her, mimicking her stance.

"I don't like our odds, given your track record." McCoy mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you're bad luck!" They were both hugging their legs as they sat side by side one another, trying to keep warm.

"I'm not bad Luck! I'm just accident prone." Lorna replied eyeing him angrily.

"Oh is that what it is?! And what about the humming and talking to yourself, what's that?" His curiosity had finally got the better of him.

"An overactive imagination." She wiped the mud dripping into her eyes and pulled her legs even closer.

"You're mad as a box of frogs you know that don't you?"

"Yes." After a minute Lorna spoke up again. "Do you mind?" She wouldn't have been bothered if he was, she was just curious.

"The hell I don't, you don't know how many times your muttering and _'imagination'_ has kept me from going insane on that damned ship! You've brought a smile to my face more times than I can count. I owe you a thank you Lorna." Peering up she locked eyes with McCoy, his mouth all but resting against her forehead.

"We're going to get hyperthermia."

"We need to keep warm." McCoy agreed. "Here." Opening up his arm Lorna instinctively leant into him, pulling her own arm round him also.

"What are we going to do?" She finally whispered into his chest.

"I don't know?" After a while he felt her breathing even out but the last thing he wanted was for her to fall asleep and knowing she could fall asleep anywhere he knew he had a struggle on his hands. "So, tell me how the two intrepid adventurers met." He asked and Lorna couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, they met in a bar."

"Of course they did."

"He approached her, he asked _'What does it say on your bracelet?'_ " Lorna was doing her 1930's mid-western accent and it made McCoy chuckle. "And she said _'Just my name.'_ and he says, _'As for instance?'_ and she replies _'Lorna.'_."

"He's smooth." McCoy commented.

"Very." She agreed and then continued with her story. "So, they're sat beside each other and he's bought her a drink."

"What's she drinking?" McCoy asked as he tightened his grip around Lorna.

"A Manhattan."

"Very nice."

"So he carries on and says _'Lorna, I think I Like that?'_ and Lorna replies, _'But you're not sure?'_ " McCoy cut her off by speaking himself.

"I'd have to drive it around the block a couple of times." Lorna looked at McCoy shocked when he continued the story himself, with 1930's mid-western accent and everything.

"There's a speed limit around these parts you know?" She continued the dialogue.

"What speed was I going Officer?" McCoy's lips were dangerously close to her ear and Lorna felt herself leaning in further, not simply to keep warm but to feel the ripple of his arms and chest against her.

"I'd say about ninety."

"Suppose you give me a ticket?"

"Suppose I let you off with a warning this time?" Lorna had turned her head towards him so that they were facing one another.

"Suppose it doesn't take?"

"Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles?" They were mere millimetres apart.

"Bones! Are you down there?!" The bright light flooding the trap made them close their eyes, pull away from one another and peer up at the sky.

 **The End**

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading XOXO LLAP ;-)**_


	4. Chapter 4

If you closed your eyes and put your fingers in your ears whilst travelling in a turbolift, going up or down, it didn't matter! Well, Lorna was pretty sure you could feel when you came to a stop and the door opened. She had tried it a few times and surprisingly got it right, figuring she had excellent powers of perception she tried it with other things. Unfortunately it didn't work with the transporter, nor the food replicator but it kind of worked with a hypospray. Although looking back, perhaps it hadn't been the best of ideas to self administer a hypospray?! Especially when afore mentioned hypospray held a strong sedative that may or may not have knocked you out for nine hours.

Humming as she went Lorna completely neglected to realise that the turbolift had in fact come to a stop and that the door had opened. The Ensign, poor Bruce Renfro, who had been waiting patiently didn't know what to do when met with the sight of Doctor Heiland, eyes squeezed shut, fingers in ears and… was she humming the Spice Girls? The turbolift carried on without him (a wise decision on the Ensign's part) until again, it stopped and the doors opened, Lorna none the wiser. This time though, it was the one and only, Doctor Leonard H. McCoy (how could it not have been), waiting to embark and with one look at Heiland, well he couldn't help but grin. She was stood to the rear of the cylindrical elevator which allowed him enough room to step in without disturbing her. When the door closed behind him and they carried on their way McCoy allowed himself the brief moment to watch her uninterrupted.

Since their ' _moment_ ' on the away mission neither one of them had mentioned or asked what had about to, possibly, probably, going to happen next. Instead, as reasonable, intelligent adults they had pretended like nothing had happened and carried on regardless. Something had changed though and the pair had been finding more and more reasons to be in one another's company.

For example, one day, they had found themselves going to lunch at the same time, and it would have been rude not to sit with one another?! On Tuesday they had both needed to visit the Quartermaster and by the time the weekend had rolled around somehow they had both ended up with the same shift pattern for the following week. Strange how these things work out?

On occasion, when in the medical bay and no one else was around, he'd speak to her in their mutually enjoyed 1930's film noir, private eye, mid-western accent…

 _'Now listen here see… I need those hyposprays refilled Doll, and step on it!'_ His facial expressions made her laugh the most.

He was about to tap her on the shoulder but Lorna, feeling that it had been too long opened her eyes. She didn't jump when she spotted McCoy, instead she grinned and slowly lowered her hands from her ears, blushing a deep crimson red.

"I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing?" She asked nervously as McCoy crossed his arms in front of him.

"Actually no, this seems entirely normal as far as you're concerned."

"You mean you don't think I'm suffering from a case of the space-crazies?" McCoy laughed out loud and shook his head.

"No I certainly do not think that!" He answered as the turbolift once again came to a stop. As the door opened Lorna told McCoy she'd see him later and started to leave. "Lorna?" He called after her.

"Yes?" Swivelling on the spot Lorna stopped and looked up at him keenly, as McCoy opened his mouth to speak the turbolift door began to close with Lorna standing over the threshold. Now she knew the thing couldn't close on her, they were designed to detect any object in the way but she still couldn't help but flinch, squeeze her eyes shut and try to throw herself away from the oncoming door. Messily turning the only thing she achieved was cracking her head against the frame before the door closed and McCoy carried on his way. Standing and staring at the closed door McCoy's jaw stayed open aghast until he reached his deck. Tapping his comm badge he opened a channel to Lorna.

"What the hell just happened Heiland? Are you alright?" Lorna, on her part was willing back the tears streaming from her eyes as a result of giving the bridge of her nose a good knock. Pinching and holding it up to the sky she responded.

"I'm okay!" She shouted nasally.

"You sure?" She certainly didn't sound okay.

"Yeah! Yeah, fine, I'm okay! Got to go!" The channel was closed from Lorna's end leaving McCoy not even knowing how what just happened, well, happened?

* * *

So it turns out that if you spill an entire beaker of blue goo (don't ask) on you in the morning at the very beginning of your shift no less, for some reason no one feels it necessary to allow you enough time to go and get changed. Furthermore, pretty much the entire Engineering function take it upon themselves to inflict injuries on one another so that they can all come in and have a jolly good laugh at your expense alongside your fellow Doctors and Nurses.

HR was definitely getting a call later!

Lorna grimaced at the feeling of the goo on her neck, her tunic had become stiff as it had dried and her overcoat didn't really do much to cover it up. She'd been busy for the past six hours dealing with the more minor injuries whilst McCoy had been in surgery.

Finally, having a moment to herself she grabbed some surgical scrubs and went to one of the private consultation rooms. Throwing her coat off she twisted and contorted her arms to reach the zip at the back of her tunic, managing to drag it down half way Lorna was losing her patience.

"Damned, stupid thing!" She mumbled as she tried to pull both her arms from the sleeves, affectively creating her own straight jacket, Lorna groaned in frustration and wriggled against the stiff material. "For the love of God and all that is holy!" Jumping up and down on the spot she hoped that the dress would just fall down, using gravity and all that? "You have got to be kidding!" Taking a deep breath she stopped moving, looking down at herself and scowling. She just needed to get one arm out, that way she could pull the zipper down further and release herself from the self-made prison. The blue goo had had the added consequence of staining her skin a marine colour, her underwear sporting the same hue. Having one, last frantic fight with the tunic Lorna audibly sobbed and stuck her bottom lip out, feeling like she wanted to cry and run home. Sliding down the wall she decided this was the moment her career ended and she was thrown off the ship for complete incompetency.

She didn't want to move, she'd resigned herself to staying like that forever, trapped in her own tunic, sitting on the floor and starving to death.

"They'd find her soon enough, just a blue stained skeleton sat on the floor with ragged material around her. People would ask what happened and they'd reply, ' _She tried to take off her tunic_ ' and people would suck on their teeth and grimace, replying ' _My God, why?! Why would she endeavour to do something so dangerous_?!'" Lorna groaned again quietly, her shoulders bouncing up and down as she pretended to cry.

 _"Do you know the way to San Jose?_ _I've been away so long. I may go wrong and lose my way. Do you know the way to San Jose? I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose…"_

This was a new low she knew it, the thought of being found in such a state was enough for her to scramble back to her feet and begin trying to free herself again. With a string of curse words she managed to get one arm free, immediately feeling the benefit.

"Oh thank you!" The chime for the door rang and Lorna stopped in her tracks like a rabbit in headlights, looking to the panel she sighed when she saw that it was locked.

"Doctor Heiland?" McCoy's voice came over the intercom and Lorna's eyes went wide, scurrying over to the panel she tapped on it quickly.

"Doctor McCoy?" Her voice was so high pitched and squeaky she had to clear her throat and repeat herself.

"Are you alright?" He already knew she wasn't.

"I'm fine!" She wasn't.

"You don't sound fine?" She really didn't.

"I'm fine, really." Reaching up behind her she pulled the zip down to the bottom and ripped her other arm out, the limb smacking against the wall and making her silently scream in pain. Waving the bruised limb in the air she looked around for where she'd thrown the scrubs.

"What's going on Lorna?" McCoy's voice was filled with alarm, she sometimes wished he didn't care as much as he did.

"Nothing!" Letting the tunic fall to the floor she kicked it off her feet and flung it across the room.

"Doesn't sound like nothing, why's the door locked?" McCoy was growing concerned, anytime Lorna Heiland was left on her own meant trouble. Hearing a load of banging and shuffling only made him worry more, his hand hovered over the panel, ready to enter his override code. On the other side of the door Lorna had grabbed the white surgical top, hastily throwing her arms and head in.

"No no no no no!" Scrambling, Lorna struggled to get the thing over her head.

"I'm coming in!"

"No!" Lorna's muffled reply did nothing to abate McCoy's concerns.

"Then tell me what's going on!"

"Please, don't come in! I'm getting changed…" Being stuck in her own top and not being able to see Lorna tripped over one of the apparatus trolleys as she spoke, sending implements flying.

"That's it!" Lorna heard the swoosh of the door and froze, the feeling of absolute, unequivocal humiliation washing over her like, well like the blue goo that morning. Closing her eyes she just waited, hoping and praying for the sweet release of death. "What in the world…?" McCoy stared at Lorna, boots, blue stained underwear and surgical top stuck over her head, arms in the air Lorna.

He couldn't stop staring.

He really couldn't.

"Doctor?" The quiet, meek voice that emanated from the surgical top with legs made him snap out of it and he immediately closed the door behind him.

"What the hell did you do?" He asked, taking a tentative step closer.

"Nothing!" Lorna answered defensively, struggling again to get the top over her head.

"It doesn't look like nothing." That was it, she heard the humour in his tone of voice, groaning she gave any almighty yank with her hands. "Whoa there, let me help you." McCoy offered, feeling a sense of sympathy, mirth and bewilderment for the woman in front of him.

"No! I'm fine, I can do it!" McCoy held his hands up in surrender and watched Lorna continue to struggle.

"Lorna?" He whispered sensitively but she didn't answer. "Lorna?" He said again, smiling warmly at her even though she couldn't see.

"What?! What Leonard?!" Her masked face faced him and he slowly placed his hand on her cheek.

"Let me help you." He said again, he heard her exhale heavily and then watched as she nodded wordlessly.

"Kill me now." McCoy didn't comment but instead slipped his fingers under the hem of the top and pulled it down gently until Lorna's head popped out, her eyes closed.

"Open your eyes Lorna." McCoy said, chuckling lightly.

"No thank you, I'd rather not." Lorna answered matter of factly.

"So, you're just never going to open your eyes again?" McCoy pulled his gaze up from her bear legs.

"Nope."

"That seems a bit severe?"

"Oh I don't know, seems perfectly reasonable to me." Lorna smiled tightly but still didn't open her eyes because if she did she would have to see the look of absolute pity on his face.

"Lorna." McCoy's voice was so gentle that she couldn't help but open her eyes and when she saw that he was looking at her with anything other than pity Lorna simply shrugged her shoulders and laughed. "Are you okay?" He asked her sincerely.

"Yes, thank you." The pair stood facing one another.

"Do you think you can manage the pants?" McCoy asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah I think so." Lorna grabbed the trousers and started to pull one leg in as McCoy made his way back to the door. "Thanks again."

"Anytime." With a wave of his hand McCoy left the room, not before Lorna put her other leg in the same hole as the other and toppled over with an almighty thud!

"I'm okay!"

 **The End**


	5. Chapter 5

Looking around Lorna again found that she was alone; it had been months since she'd last been on a late shift but it really did just feel like yesterday that she had been in the exact same situation. She was going to have a word with McCoy about it, and on that note, her attention was diverted to his office. She chose to ignore the little twinge in her stomach at the prospect of him being in there, peering round the door frame she also chose to ignore the feeling of disappointment she felt when she saw that he wasn't.

"Fine, have it your way." She said to no one, going to the first bed she began to a run a full system diagnostic. "Body temperature, pulse rate, respiration, blood pressure…" It didn't take long for the computer to carry out the analysis so Lorna stepped over to the next bed and began the same task. "To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!"

Lorna stepped over to the third bed.

"To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!"

Bed four.

"A dull, dark dock, a life-long lock, a short, sharp shock, a big black block! To sit in solemn silence in a pestilential prison, and awaiting the sensation from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!"

Looking around she decided on her next task, seeing that one of the Dermal Regenerators had been left out next to bed four she picked it up to return it, as she walked over to the cabinets she found herself holding it as if it was a microphone.

"Good evening Ladies and Gentleman, it's great to be here!" Lorna smiled and waved out to the intimate audience in front of her. "Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It's okay. He woke up." Lorna took a small bow in front of her applauding audience. "Please, you're too kind! Why couldn't the leopard play hide and seek? Because he was always spotted." Holding her hands up she blushed at the raucous cheers from the crowd. "Stop! Really! You've been great, really. I've been Lorna Heiland, Goodnight!"

Waving she walked off the imaginary stage and towards to the replicator. "Coffee, white one sugar… and a Red Velvet Cupcake." Seeing the cake appear in front of her Lorna grinned. "Hello there pretty thing."

Walking back to one of the beds she carefully sat herself down in the middle and crossed her legs, setting the coffee and cupcake down in front of her. For the next twenty minutes she carefully, methodically took a sip of coffee and then a bite of cake, being extremely careful to ensure that her cream cheese to sponge ratio was spot on with every bite. This was something she took very seriously. Licking her lips she patted her stomach and sighed, she maybe could have done with doing more exercise? After another twenty minutes of feeling guilty she jumped off the bed, grabbing a tricorder she set it down on the far side of the bay and programmed it to emit a beeping sound at ever decreasing intervals. Doing the same on the other side of the bay Lorna jumped up and down, stretching out her limbs and preparing herself for… exercise! The first beep sounded and off she went, running as fast as she could.

"Oh good God no!" She grunted out as she barely made it to the other side before the first beep sounded, stopping and sprinting off back on herself she instantly regretted her decision to workout. She managed to do six laps before she got a stitch in her side and had to walk it off, all the while the two tricorders beeping away at her. Shutting them off dejectedly she put them back, feeling out of breath and depressed.

A few hours after numerous conversations with herself (Should she grow her hair? Was Massimo Maroska going to ask her to Prom just before she threw up on him? Why did she have to get her foot stuck on her chair leg when she'd been in the mess last week and fall flat on her face? Why did she find it funny to the point of tears to whisper McCoy's name and then look away?) and whilst sat filling out reports Lorna heard the main door open and watched as a young Crewman staggered in who had clearly seen better days, hurrying over Lorna took him by the elbow and guided him over to one of the beds.

"Hey Doc." She could tell by his tone he was in pain.

"Take a seat Crewman Ky'que." Lorna instructed.

"You remember my name?" He replied, looking at her surprised.

"How could I forget, you managed to get yourself in here on the second day of our mission!" Lorna answered sweetly as she pulled together her instruments, taking his burnt arm she slowly began to run the Dermal Regenerator over and over.

"How's your evening going?" The young Crewman asked as he watched Lorna do her work.

"Quiet, I ate a cupcake." Wincing at the memory Crewman Ky'que laughed at her.

"Is that a bad thing Doctor Heiland?"

"Not particularly, no I suppose not now that you ask." She gave him a quick, thankful smile. When she noticed him wince and look away she decided some sort of distraction was in order. "Crewman Ky'que, if you had to be a cupcake, what flavour would you be?" Lorna administered a hypospray to ease the pain further and then continued to heal the man's arm.

"Err, I've never thought about? I guess… Lemon?" Lorna considered his answer for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"Not a bad choice." She finally commented.

"What about you?" Crewman Ky'Que found himself asking, even though the conversation was altogether too bizarre for him he found he couldn't resist Lorna's sparkling dark brown eyes.

"Oh that's easy, Blueberry." Lorna finished up and picked up his chart, tapping away quickly. "Well, you're all set, make sure you take care not to aggravate the skin for a day or two, it's still a little sensitive."

"Thanks Doc, you're the best." Lorna blushed.

"Stay safe Crewman." Giving her another look before he reluctantly left Crewman Ky'que just about heard her humming as the doors closed.

" _Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl..._ " Lorna was swaying from side to side as she sang quietly, tidying up after herself and returning to her desk. " _With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. She would merengue… and do the cha-cha._ " Setting down the PADD she focused on her shoulder shimmy. " _And while she tried to be a star Tony always tended bar._ " Her voice was a little louder now. " _Across the crowded floor, they worked from eight till four. They were young and they had each other. Who could ask for more?_ " Now she was in full swing, shimmying around the bay and belting the words out as loud as she could.

" _At the copa, Copacabana. The hottest spot north of Havana. At the copa, Copacabana. Music and passion were always the fashion at the copa… They fell in love…_ " Turning as she sang the last words, deep in tone and full of passion she first caught sight of, not heard the delighted applause of Captain Kirk.

The scream that erupted from her bowels was nothing short of terrifying, for a second Kirk thought he'd actually killed her. Nobody could flinch and scream like that and not end up on a marble slab.

"You're a good singer Doctor Heiland." Kirk said laughing as Lorna tried to get her breathing under control. "I'm sorry I scared you, it was just, you were very… immersed in the performance, so to speak." Lorna closed her eyes and shook her head, this wasn't happening. She decided on pretending like nothing had happened.

"Is everything alright Captain?" She asked, suddenly concerned that he may have been there because he wasn't well.

"I err, well, my wrist is playing up." Kirk answered holding his right arm in front of him, Lorna smiled and ushered him over. "Has it been quiet?" He asked, hopping up on the bed as Lorna took hold of his wrist and started moving it round slowly.

"Yes Captain, but I never wish it to be busy." Kirk watched as she moved his hand up and down gently, when he winced Lorna nodded and let go. "Have you fallen on it recently? Carried out any repetitive exercise?" Lorna looked at him as she spoke and Kirk immediately saw why his friend had fallen for her.

"No, nothing." He answered, smiling at his own train of thought.

"Alright, well let me run a few more tests but I'm pretty sure it's just a repetitive strain, don't worry Captain, I'll still give you a lollypop!" Lorna grinned at him and carried on with her treatment.

"You're a good Doctor, Doctor Heiland. I'll admit, your bedside manner is far better than Bones'!" Lorna laughed heartedly and nodded her head.

"Well, that's not saying much Captain but I appreciate the compliment all the same." Kirk decided to be nosey.

"Honestly, I don't know how you put up with him every day?!"

"Oh he's not that bad Captain, besides, we all have our… foibles." Giving the Captain a wink as she spoke she again slowly moved his hand up and down. "Better?" She asked.

"Yes, much. Thank you Doc."

"Don't mention it, plus you got a show as well with your visit! We aim to please." Lorna gave him a wonky smile and a shrug of her shoulders, she was use to making a fool of herself in front of people by now.

"If I'd known I would have come earlier!" Kirk thought about McCoy, a man who was the very definition of a southern country Doctor, albeit one who happened to work on a Starship. He was laid back with his friends, of which Kirk knew he could count on one hand but his devotion to the health of his crew was unwavering and resolute. His plain-talking approach was mistaken by many as him being cantankerous, but Kirk knew he also had a mischievous, almost childish sense of humour, most of the time directed at Spock. So, knowing all this about his friend, he could see why he had become smitten with Lorna Heiland. She appeared intelligent and funny, clearly had an offbeat streak in her also but above all was undoubtedly devoted to her role of Doctor. "Um, you have something, on your nose?" Lorna creased her brow in confusion, bringing her hand up she wiped the tip of her nose and looked down at her fingers that were now covered in cream cheese. She'd had cream cheese on her face the entire time?!

"It's cream cheese." She told Kirk, feeling like he needed an explanation.

"Okay?" He didn't know what to say.

"I had a Red Velvet cupcake before, in fact, Crewman Ky'Que came in after that?" This was just great!

"He might not have noticed." He definitely would have noticed.

"You think? Yeah, maybe? Thanks Captain." She didn't believe that for a second.

"Don't mention it." Hopping off the bed Kirk made his way out. "Thanks again." He said, giving her a wave.

"Captain!" Turning back round he looked at Lorna expectantly.

"What kind of cupcake would you be?" She asked him.

"The best kind Doctor Heiland."

* * *

Kirk stood in front of the Captain's chair on the bridge, he'd been practicing for months his opening conversation with the Solosians, the race being very particular when it came to protocol and etiquette. One wrong move and the treaty they were looking to sign would be a distant memory. McCoy stood to the rear, watching the discussion unfold. He had to admit, he was impressed by Kirk. He'd sat for hours with Uhura ensuring his pronunciation was correct, after his previous forays into diplomacy he knew he was most likely on his third strike as far as the Federation were concerned.

McCoy heard the turbolift doors whoosh open and turned to see Lorna peering out nervously. Spotting him she scurried quickly over to his side, coming to a skidding halt on the shiny floor. Their arms pressed against one another as they listened to Kirk and McCoy couldn't help but smile, enjoying having Lorna by his side. Not moving his head but peering down and to his left all he could see was the top of her head. Blonde short hair, huge bangs and all, sat on a body that curved out above and below a pinched waist.

"What are you doing here Lorna?" He whispered.

"I needed to ask you a question." She whispered back, looking up at him and grimacing when she saw his stern face.

"And it couldn't have waited?" She thought about his question and if she was being honest it could have waited but she liked seeing him, she also liked going to the bridge so for her, it had been a win win. Now though, seeing that the Captain was obviously in the middle of something very important she wished she'd had thought it through a tad more. Seeing that she was struggling for an answer McCoy took pity on her. "Never mind, just… stand there." Lorna nodded and turned to watch the Captain, after a while her legs began to tingle.

Rolling on her heels and toes she tried to will away the sense of 'needing' to move, the Captain was still talking and it seemed to her that he was at a really important point.

Another fifteen minutes had gone by and Lorna's eyes were beginning to tire, diplomacy was mind-numbingly tedious it turns out! Little by little she took some steps back until she felt the side of a console station come to rest against the back of her thighs, it was one or two steps at the most, even McCoy didn't notice. Lorna breathed heavily, feeling better that she could rest against something. Not taking her eyes off the Captain she willed herself to stay awake and pay attention or at the very least look like she was paying attention.

'Command not recognised.'

Lorna bolted upright and instantly locked eyes with McCoy, who was staring daggers at her, turning and looking at the console behind her she saw that it was flashing red, well that wasn't good! She must have sat down?! The computer's 'reply' had sounded out across the bridge, there was no way she'd got away with it.

"Lorna?!" McCoy hissed, "What the hell did you just do?" Shaking her head her initial reaction was just to flat out deny everything.

"Nothing." She whispered back. They'd garnered the attention of the majority of the crew surrounding them, Kirk had heard the interruption but very skilfully ignored it and continued with his administrations to the Solosians. Not wanting to cause any more disturbances McCoy grabbed Lorna's arm and pulled her next to him, all the while Lorna feeling like her cheeks were on fire.

Thankfully, the talks came to an end successfully, Lorna tried to retreat but McCoy's firm grasp on her Doctor's coat stopped her.

"Oh no you don't." He hissed.

"What the hell was that?!" Kirk asked turning and eyeing everybody suspiciously.

"What was what?" McCoy asked.

"The command error Bones." Kirk looked at him exasperated.

"It was me Captain, I apologise profusely for the distraction…" Lorna wanted a black hole to open up there and then and suck her into oblivion, she was mortified.

"What were you trying to do?" Kirk asked.

"I err, well, funny you should ask that Captain." Her laugh was a little too loud and a little too hysterical. "You know, since I was little…" McCoy cleared his throat and Lorna looked at him, very subtly he shook his head. "It was a mistake…" She didn't know what else to say, Kirk seemed to be able to tell because his shoulders relaxed and he decided to take it easy on her.

"Well, no harm done." As Kirk turned to Spock McCoy swiftly escorted Lorna to the turbolift, where once inside Lorna covered her face with her hands.

"I can't believe I did that!" She said though muffled fingers.

"What were you trying to do Lorna? Initiate a self-destruct with your ass?!" She would have laughed if she'd had known for sure McCoy wouldn't have fired her on the spot for it.

"I find it hard to stand for long periods in one spot." She tried defending herself but even to her own ears she sounded pathetic. "I was going to leave, but then I was worried my boots would squeak on the floor! Do your boots squeak?"

"Really? That's what you're going with?" McCoy asked disbelievingly.

"It's the truth, my legs feel… tingly? I'll go and apologise again to the Captain." That was a good idea.

"No goddamnit," Apparently it wasn't. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be on the bridge Lorna, ever. No, just leave it be."

"Do you think so?" She still wasn't sure.

"I know so." He could tell that she felt awful and realised that him giving her a hard time wasn't really of any benefit, softening his hard edges he changed his tone and demeanour. "Anyway, what did you want to ask me?" Lorna was grateful to McCoy for not raking her over the coals. She looked at him blankly. "You've forgot haven't you?"

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't? What's it to you Buster?" She hoped that deploying her 1930's private eye accent would distract him but when he simply crossed his arms in front of him and raised his eyebrow she knew it hadn't worked.

"Nice try." He muttered to her.

"It was wasn't it?" She'd decided to double down.

"You are the strangest woman I've ever met, for one of the most competent Doctors I've ever encountered, you, Heiland, are cuckoo." His compliment didn't go unnoticed by her but she didn't say anything, knowing it would make him feel uncomfortable.

"I don't think I'm cuckoo." Lorna replied after a pause.

"Of course you don't." As the turbolift came to a stop McCoy ushered Lorna out and the pair made their way down the corridor.

"I think I'm pretty run of the mill." She really did.

"Of course you do." McCoy smiled.

"With respect Doctor McCoy, you're the unusual one." Her legs were going double speed in comparison to his.

"Me?!" McCoy's hand went to his chest in disbelief.

"Well, yes."

"And how the hell am I the 'unusual one'?" They'd stopped walking now and were now facing one another in the corridor.

"Well, you talk to yourself." Lorna leant towards him conspiratorially.

"The hell I do!" His hands were on his hips, Lorna started panicking.

"You do! And, you eat your lunch clockwise." Lorna grinned at him.

"What?" His face scrunched up in utter confusion but at the same time his mind was racing; did he eat his lunch clockwise?

"You eat your lunch clockwise! You start at the top of the plate and make your way round!" They were both smiling at one another now, knowing they were pulling each other's leg.

"You're making that up." McCoy said, narrowing his eyes at her and wagging his finger in front of her face.

"Swear to God." She answered, holding her hand up like a Girl Scout.

"Really?" Did he do that?

"Really," Lorna confirmed. "See, you're absolutely bat shit crazy." He was looking at her pretty intensely, so much so that she found herself swallowing hard and not being able to look at him in the eye. Oh boy! She was in trouble. She didn't know what else to say so she carried on walking.

"Speaking of lunch, have you eaten?" He asked as he jogged up beside her once more.

"No."

"Do you want to…?"

"Yes." She cut him off.

"I'll try not to eat clockwise." McCoy said quietly.

"I didn't say I had a problem with it, I like the fact that you're just as weird as me." Lorna laughed.

"I wouldn't go that far."

 **The End**


	6. Chapter 6

Lorna had been quiet all day, uncommonly quiet. In fact Leonard McCoy couldn't recollect a time he'd ever known her not to be her usual, effervescent self. On a number of occasions throughout the day he had set off with the intention to ask if everything was alright but had been thwarted in his efforts each time. After spending the last few hours on the bridge he was resolute in his objective, walking in to the medical bay his eyes scanned the room for her short bob of blonde hair. It was nowhere to be seen.

"Doctor Peloquin?" The grey haired man, who looked uncommonly like Father Christmas looked up as McCoy made his way over. "Have you seen Doctor Heiland?" He asked gruffly.

"She left for the day." He answered plainly. McCoy nodded his head slowly, contemplating his next move.

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No." Peloquin eyed him suspiciously, as far as he was concerned McCoy had never bothered himself with the comings and goings of the medical staff? McCoy turned on his heel and left, making his way to her quarters he realised that, without evening becoming aware of it, that he had quickly fallen into the habit of thinking about Lorna Heiland. As he readied himself for work, whilst he was on shift, pretty much whenever he wasn't in the medical bay with her. She was a constant source of reflection, anxiety and absurdity. He felt angry that he hadn't made more of an effort to speak to her earlier and as he pressed the console outside of her quarters he tapped his foot nervously.

The red, puffy eyes, snotty nose and puckered lips that greeted him immediately weighed him down and when, without saying a word, she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms round his waist and squeezing, well he knew. He knew everything. He shuffled them both into the living room, Lorna still comically attached to his midsection. His arms had come to encircle her and for the next few minutes he gently stroked her back as she snivelled into his chest. She was a crier as well, oh boy was she a crier! There was no slight hitch in her breath, no single tear slowly falling down her cheek as she looked wistfully into the distance. No, Lorna Heiland bawled, tears and mucus mixing together and being unceremoniously and unapologetically wiped onto McCoy's uniform.

"Are you alright?" He finally asked, having to stifle a laugh even though he knew she was genuinely upset.

"I'm okay." She mumbled into his ribs.

"You don't sound okay?" Speaking into her hair McCoy pushed her back slightly so that he could look at her. Wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve Lorna gave him a lopsided grin.

"I'm okay." She repeated.

"I've been worried about you all day Lorna, I was meaning to speak to you before but…"

"Oh that's alright, you were busy…" She was already dismissing his concern but McCoy wasn't going to be dissuaded that easily.

"Spill the beans Heiland." He said pointedly and that was that, he watched her face crumple and a flurry of blubbering erupted again. "Oh Darlin', come on."

"My Dad died." Lorna told him quietly and McCoy closed his eyes in empathy.

"I'm so sorry Lorna." His arms practically enveloped her head and shoulders as he brought her even closer to him. Lorna finally pulled away, giving him a tight smile and telling him she was going to wash up. He waited for her, taking a seat on the small couch in the living room. When she returned she didn't look much better but she'd stopped crying and her nose was no longer running. Sitting down next to him and tucking her feet under herself he waited for her to speak.

"There was this band my Dad use to listen to when I was a kid, he'd always have their music on when he was taking me to school. They were obscure and weird but Dad loved them, I think he went to see one of their concerts when he was teenager? I was nine and I knew all the words to these songs that nobody else knew!" Lorna smiled at the recollection and McCoy couldn't help but smile also. "So, I remember when it was announced at school that they were going to have a talent competition and anybody could enter I thought, 'Fantastic! I'll sing one of their songs!' Without giving it another thought I put my name down and for the next three weeks I practiced and practiced. At some point, and I still have no idea why, I thought an even better idea would be to mime along to the song, yeah, I don't know? I was nine! I'd told my Dad and he said it was a great idea, he never discouraged me or told me I couldn't do anything I set my mind to." Lorna felt her eyes well up again and cleared her throat. "Sorry." She apologised.

"Don't say sorry, your Dad sounds like a good man." McCoy spoke so compassionately that Lorna felt like she could have lost it all over again but she wanted to tell her story, so willed herself to keep it together.

"All the other kids were playing instruments, dancing, you know, actual talents. So, when it came to my turn I got up on stage, the song began to play, which, when looking back had some pretty inappropriate lyrics for a nine year old and I gave it my all."

"What happened?" McCoy asked, a perfect picture in his head forming of a nine year old Lorna Heiland.

"I bombed. The song bombed, I bombed, and I can still see their faces. The kids looking at me like I'd lost my mind and the teachers looking at me with what can only be described as a mix of horror and sympathy." Lorna laughed.

"How did you feel?"

"On top of the world, I did what I wanted to do, how I wanted to, with no fear of what anybody thought. That's what Dad taught me. And even though it was probably one of the most monstrous things to ever grace that school stage, or any stage for that matter, I couldn't have cared less."

"So you've always been like this." McCoy took her hand and squeezed.

"I guess so."

"And you have your Dad to thank for it." Lorna barked with laughter.

"Yeah, I guess so, thanks Dad!" She said sarcastically, finding herself getting upset again. "I'm really going to miss him."

"You will, but it'll get better."

"I know, thank you Leonard." She couldn't look at him, his compassionate eyes too much for her in that moment.

"Don't mention it." Leaning forward and kissing her cheek McCoy whispered in her ear. "I would have clapped till my hands hurt." She didn't trust herself to respond to that.

"What were your parents like?" She asked after a moment of reflection on both their parts.

"My Pa was a serious man and my Mother proud." He answered honestly, not feeling his usual level of anxiety when talking about himself.

"The apple didn't fall far from the tree then?" Lorna commented, a few little pieces of the jigsaw she had yet to find a place for coming together.

"My Pa though, he loved a practical joke! He'd vex my Mother something rotten, buckets of cold water, trick glasses that he'd give to one of her friends when they came round." McCoy chuckled at the memory. "She would get angry and not speak to him but by the end of every day they'd be dancing in the living room together after dinner. They loved one another a lot."

"Do you take after your Father?" Lorna asked.

"I was known for playing a few practical jokes when I was at medical school." He told her conspiratorially. They both stood and McCoy made his way over to the door. "You going to be okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Giving him a small wave she watched him leave, thankful to have him in her life.

* * *

When Lorna arrived at her desk the following morning she immediately spotted the Red Velvet cupcake sitting perfectly proud and pretty. She pressed her lips together to stop from grinning, having no doubt in her mind who had gifted her with the delectable confectionary. Setting herself up for the day and grabbing a coffee she sat down and, unusually, she opted for the _'shove as much cupcake into your mouth as you can'_ approach as opposed to her exacting _'sponge to cream cheese ratio'_ methodology. And of course, because how could it not have been? That was the moment McCoy walked in with Captain Kirk. And what's a woman to do but smile broadly, open mouthed at her fellow Physician and fearless Captain. The display of masticated sponge a sight to behold!

McCoy actually snorted! A sound Kirk had never heard his good friend make in his life.

Toasting the remainder of the cupcake in their direction Lorna gave McCoy a thumbs up and then went back to her work. It took all of Kirk's resolve to keep quiet until they were safely hidden away in McCoy's office to ask.

"Can you explain to me what just happened?" McCoy nonchalantly regarded his friend.

"Oh? The Cupcake?" He asked to which Kirk made a ' _yehuh?!_ ' sound, arms stretched out in front of him, palms up in despair.

"Doctor Heiland had a rough day yesterday, I thought it would make her feel better." Quickly picking up a PADD or two McCoy tried to change the subject.

"Oh no you don't! Bones?!" Kirk dropped his chin and looked at him insistently.

"Yes Jim?" Calm as a mill pond.

"Are you and…? You know what, never mind, I don't want to know?" Kirk sat down and picked up a PADD himself. "No actually, scratch that, I do want to know." McCoy considered his words carefully.

"I care about her a lot Jim." He finally settled on and Jim Kirk knew enough of Leonard McCoy not to mock him.

"I'm happy for you Bones, I really am." McCoy was about to explain that they weren't, in fact, what? An item? A couple yet but a knock at the door attracted both of their attentions.

"Come in." McCoy called out. Nurse Rakam appeared with a worried look on her face. "What is it?" He asked.

"Err, Doctor Heiland walked into the overhead cranial scanner, she's got a nasty gash on her head." McCoy let a breath out slowly and then looking at Kirk who was smirking at him, onerously heaved himself from his chair.

"You know you're singlehandedly pulling down my SHE stats Heiland!" McCoy shouted at her as he approached, Kirk hot on his heels. Lorna grimaced and mouthed a silent apology. McCoy set about healing her head as Kirk asked her what happened. "I've learnt there's really no point asking that question Jim." He muttered under his breath.

"It came out of nowhere Captain!" Lorna answered dramatically. "How are you Captain?" She asked politely a moment later, fighting against McCoy's grip on her jaw.

"Me I'm fine, faring better than you!" Kirk enjoyed the easy way in which Lorna talked; it was charming and always courteous.

"Umhmm, I'm an accident prawn." Lorna answered.

"Accident prawn?" McCoy couldn't help himself, he had to ask.

"Yeah, you know, a shellfish walking around the seabed knocking into things? An accident prawn." Lorna was very proud of herself of that particular joke. Nurse Rakam found it hysterical and had to excuse herself, especially when Lorna mimed her own drum kit ' _bum bum tish_ ' sound.

"Don't give up the day job Doctor Heiland!" Kirk shouted as he left the medical bay. When the pair were alone Lorna looked up at McCoy sheepishly.

"It really did come out of nowhere." She told him quietly.

"Now listen here see, you better watch your step around here!" Lorna bopped up and down on the spot in joyful reaction to his 1930's private eye inflection. "I don't want you hurtin' that pretty little face of yours you hear?"

"Sure thing Doll." She answered softly and then a second later, when his words had sunk in. "You think I'm pretty?" McCoy closed the gap between them.

"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on." Lorna's jaw dropped like a cod fish.

"That's one hell of a line." She gasped out.

"It's the truth Darlin'" McCoy replied.

"This isn't some weird daydream is it? I'm not unconscious am I? You know in the movies when the person imagines an entire conversation with somebody and then BAM! they wake up and they haven't actually had that conversation at all…!" McCoy just let her ramble; he enjoyed watching how animated her face got.

"I have to go, I've got a meeting." His hand rested on her knee and Lorna stared at it.

"What? You say all that and then you tell me you've got a meeting?" Lorna looked at him aghast.

"I think all I said was that I don't want you hurtin' that pretty face of yours." McCoy laughed.

"That's a lot!" Lorna's voice was louder than she anticipated but she tempered her reaction quickly. "Fine, go to your stupid meeting." When McCoy jiggled her chin with his thumb and forefinger playfully before walking away she couldn't help but watch after him until he was out of sight. It was a few more minutes before she trusted herself to get down off the bed and for her legs to work.

* * *

Nurse Vallo stood at the very end of the medical bay, knees bent and ready for anything!

"Bring it on old lady!" She shouted.

"Less of the old lady!" Lorna shouted back, perched on the stool with wheels and flanked by Doctor Kostas and Nurse Rakam. They were going to do it, they were going to break the three bed record.

"You sure about this?" Rakam asked, holding on to the side of the stool and grimacing.

"Of course she's ready, she was born ready." Kostas answered, giving Lorna an enthusiastic nod!

"Ready?" Lorna shouted out.

"Ready!" They all replied.

"Three!" She shouted.

"Two!" Rakam shouted.

"One!" Kostas shouted.

"Wait!" Lorna pushed her feet out in front of her to make sure she didn't set off.

"What?! Heiland, we were ready to go!" Kostas circled round on themselves in frustration.

"Did we say on one or after one, like? Three, two, one, go or three, two, one go on one?" Lorna asked the pair.

"After one." Rakam answered.

"What's wrong old lady?! Is it time for your nap?!" Vallo shouted from the far end of the bay.

"Enough with the fighting talk Vallo!" Lorna shouted back at her.

"Sorry!" Vallo replied, holding her hands up.

"Are we doing this or not?" Kostas had had enough.

"We're doing it." Lorna returned to her position. "Come on team, we can do this, on one!"

"AFTER ONE!" Rakam and Kostas shouted in unison.

"AFTER ONE!" Lorna repeated, lowering her head and picking up her feet.

"Two, one, go!" Rakam had had enough and quickly finished the countdown, Doctor and Nurse pushed with all of their might and Lorna set off like a rocket. Across the bay she travelled, all the while her colleagues cheering her on. Lorna screamed as she careened passed bed one, then bed two and then bed three.

"We did it!" She shouted, but just as she saw bed four approach she could feel the stool starting to change course, those little wheels wobbling and jiggling like tiny little crazy critters!

"Careful Heiland!" She heard Rakam shout after her. Astonishingly to all involved she kept it under control until slowly but surely, she began to slow down and as she came to an Olympic Ice skating level, beauty of a stop in front of Vallo, Lorna stuck two fingers up at her.

"Not bad for an old lady." The two women laughed and the pair gave each other a hug, a moment later Rakam and Kostas joined them.

"What's next?" Rakam asked, who initially when, at the beginning of their shift Lorna had suggested they try and break her record had been the most reluctant to embark on the whole endeavour.

"Oh no!" Kostas put their hands up. "Don't push your luck."

"Come on! We must be able to think of something." Rakam encouraged.

"I bet I can get to Engineering before you." Lorna looked at Vallo.

"Not a chance, I can run way faster." Vallo laughed, dismissing the challenge.

"You have to take the Jeffries tubes." Lorna countered, resulting in coos and chuckles from Rakam and Kostas.

"Oh, you're on Heiland!" Vallo held her hand up for a high five.

"Oh no, I don't do those." Lorna shook her head.

"What, high fives?" Vallo asked, her face creased in confusion.

"Yeah, they scare me." Lorna answered truthfully.

"Back to the bet." Rakam got them back on track.

"Right, yeah, so, I run, you take the Jeffries tubes." Lorna reiterated.

"Oh you're on Heiland!" Vallo shouted back.

"We've done this already!" Kostas exclaimed, getting fed up. "Heiland, go get ready, Vallo, you too. First one there wins." Lorna jogged over to the main door and Vallo went to the access hatch. "You ready?"

"Yes." The two women answered.

"After three." Kostas held up three fingers.

"Wait, is that on three, as in…" Lorna started.

"AFTER THREE!" Kostas shouted over her. "Three, two, one, go!"

And off they went.

Lorna immediately regretted her decision to accept Vallo's challenge; there wasn't a chance in hell she could beat Vallo! She pelted it down the hallway in any case; luckily for her it was pretty quiet. Her mind started playing tricks on her, she started to panic and not remember which way to go. Scurrying round a corner she narrowly missed a group of Ensigns coming in the other direction.

"Medical emergency!" She shouted as she whizzed by, hoping they'd just think she was on her way to mend a broken finger.

Taking the turbolift wasn't cheating was it?

Well, she took it anyway.

Careening down the main corridor towards engineering Lorna fought against the stitch in her side whilst simultaneously holding on to her boobs with both hands to stop them from giving her two blacks eyes! In the distance she saw two figures approach.

"Oh please no! No! No! No! No! No! No!" Lorna saw blue, and then yellow and then Leonard McCoy's face look at her aghast. As she whizzed by the two men (still holding her boobs in place) she threw them a laboured smile. "I'M NOT RACING ANYBODY!" She yelled, internally chastising herself. That made no sense! Kirk and McCoy didn't know she was racing Vallo to Engineering! They didn't know anything, why did she shout that?! Stupid brain not being able to come up with anything! The main engineering door was open, Lorna made one last ditch effort and propelled herself towards and through the door.

"Oh, hey old lady." Vallo greeted her, leaning against a console and looking like she'd just had a perfectly peaceful nap. Lorna on the other hand, coughed and spluttered for breath and on seeing Vallo shouted at the top of her voice.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Collapsing on the floor and telling everybody she was going to be sick might have been slightly melodramatic.

* * *

Kirk looked to McCoy once the engineering bay door had closed and they'd heard Heiland swear at the top of her lungs.

"Do you know…?" He started.

"I do not." McCoy answered quickly.

"Is she…?" Kirk started again.

"Oh, definitely. One hundred percent, certifiably insane." McCoy answered before carrying on walking, being careful to not let Kirk see him grin from ear to ear.

 **The End**


	7. Chapter 7

Leonard McCoy sat looking at the stars through the window of the shuttlecraft he was currently travelling in. Knuckles white from gripping the armrests. Even though the feeling of terror was thwarting him from wholly enjoying the view, he could still appreciate the beauty of it all. The heavy weight of Lorna's head on his shoulder meant that she, on the other hand, was not appreciating the beauty of it all. She did found it beautiful, space that is, but sleep was so much more important, than most other things in her book. About an hour into their trip and he'd watched as her eyelids had softly, slowly, dropped until her chin had come to rest on her chest and her hair fell forward to cover her face. A quiet little word of permission from him and she had shifted to rest on his shoulder.

He could smell her shampoo.

He could also see that she was drooling on his shoulder.

"Lorna?" He whispered.

Nothing.

Shaking his shoulder slightly he whispered her name again and then chuckled quietly when she groggily lifted her head up whilst wiping at the side of her mouth with the back of her hand. Looking to his shoulder she quickly wiped that also and muttered an embarrassed apology.

"Don't worry about it," He said giving her the smallest of winks. "We're nearly there." Lorna stretched herself out like a cat, star fishing in her seat and purposely and inanely pushing her hand against McCoy's shoulder as she worked out the creaks in her joints. "You think you're so funny don't you?" He asked in response, letting her push him against the bulkhead. Anybody else! If anybody else had tried to pull that shit with him he would have stared them down so hard they'd have never dared darken his door again. Lorna on the other hand, well she could do just about do anything and he found himself chuckling.

"I don't think, I know. I know I'm funny." Pointing her finger at him her tone was ridiculously aggressive, McCoy could only hold up his hands in surrender. Lorna got up from her seat and made sure she had all her stuff together, PADD, blanket etc. "I'm going to the loo." She told him.

"I don't need to know that Lorna." McCoy answered peering up at her.

"You might wonder where I've gone?" He might?

"In a shuttle? I don't think so." Not happy with his answer Lorna skulked off leaving McCoy shaking his head. After a few minutes had gone by McCoy watched as she plopped herself back in her seat, Lorna nudging his arm again.

"What?" He asked, feigning irritation.

"I'm back." She told him.

"I can see that." He replied.

"I'm just telling you, just in case you were worried."

"I wasn't." Lorna pretended to cry until McCoy told her to pack it in and they both waited silently to land.

* * *

"What do you think Doctor Heiland?" McCoy walked up behind Lorna and tuned in to her conversation with another Doctor attending the symposium. They'd gone their separate ways for a while, discussing varying methods of treatment and advancements in medicine. They would catch each other's eye across the room from time to time and either wink or smile or groan, depending on who they were talking to at the time.

"I'd agree with your assessment, it's reminiscent of the Mari society is it not?" McCoy watched the other Doctor look blankly at her and he had to admit, he was intrigued himself. Standing slightly back he watched Lorna talk animatedly from behind, hearing the same level of confidence and enthusiasm as he did every day in the med bay. He wondered how she kept it up, he'd let cynicism seep in on more than one occasion. It was hard not to, especially when the ship had suffered heavy casualties. Yet still, after all their time out in the big wide open space he had yet to see her not give a patient her one hundred percent attention and care.

"Violent crime was almost eliminated through removal of violent thoughts by engramatic purges." The man was still looking blankly at her but McCoy had cottoned on and was impressed. Well that wasn't entirely true, he already knew that Lorna Heiland knew more about medicine and medical advancements than any other Doctor on board the Enterprise and he wouldn't always admit it, but he included himself in that assessment from time to time. So really, no he wasn't impressed, it was just good to see her in action. "Neurogenic restructuring Doctor?" Lorna explained, the Doctor was clearly embarrassed that he wasn't aware of what she was talking about, not that Lorna was being condescending, it was his own sense of pride that made him feel it necessary to nod along enthusiastically never the less.

"Ah yes of course, excellent observation Doctor Heiland." He smiled politely at her and then unbelievably, pretending to see somebody else in the crowd that he knew, made his excuses and bolted, leaving Lorna stood alone. Looking around she spotted McCoy and smiled.

"Did you just see…?" She started asking him, hiking her thumb in the direction of the other Doctor.

"Yes." He answered smiling.

"Was it something I said?" Lorna asked, confused as to why the man had literally run away from her, they'd been having an interesting debate.

"I think it was the fact that you basically handed his ass to him, some men are still sensitive to that sort of thing you know? A common faulty genome." Lorna realised what he was inferring and laughed.

"I guess. I don't see why?" She really didn't, there was plenty she didn't know and when she didn't she would always ask. You could always guarantee there was at least one more person in the room as confused as you are.

"You're disarming, they don't expect it." He explained further, his hand fluttered to her hair unconsciously.

"Never judge a person by their coat." Lorna said by way of agreement, McCoy looked at her confused.

"I think it's 'never judge a book by its cover'?" Lorna shook her head at him.

"No, I don't think it is?"

"At any rate, you haven't lost your touch Heiland." Giving her arm a friendly tap the pair stood closer than was entirely necessary.

"How are you?" Lorna asked changing the subject.

"Fine, fine." As he stood in front of her again he decided he wasn't going to say what he'd just thought about saying, but then he did anyhow a moment later, toing and froing in his own internal monologue. "You're remarkable you know?" Lorna creased her brow in confusion.

"What?! How so?" She asked, blushing. "That's lovely of you to say by the way, as long as I'm taking it the right way?! Not 'You're remarkable you know?' as in 'You're a piece of work!' That's not how you meant it I presume?" She was rambling.

"No of course not." He was going to explain but some of what he was thinking was perhaps, well, it felt personal to him and he wasn't sure whether or not they were ready to have that kind of conversation. Calling her pretty paled in comparison.

"Never mind, come on, let's get some lunch." Lorna didn't push, she never pushed him and for that he was thankful.

* * *

McCoy watched intently as Lorna placed all the peas round her mashed potato. He wanted to ask what she was doing but he was too intrigued as to what she would do next and didn't want her to stop. Another parameter of mash potato and then the gravy was poured in. Lorna smiled at her achievement.

"You've made a moat?" McCoy asked.

"Umhum." Lorna hummed in agreement, still smoothing out the edges with the back of her fork.

"You've made a castle with your mashed potato?" He asked further, looking from her to the castle and back to her again.

"Umhum." The fork was giving a nice texture to the walls.

"Are you bored?" He asked.

"No." She answered and he didn't know what else to say. "I'll be right back." Standing and pushing out her chair quickly, McCoy watched as Lorna made her way through the large cafeteria. He watched bemused as she made her way to where all the cutlery and condiments were kept, a moment later and she was coming back. Honestly, McCoy marvelled at the fact that the woman was still alive! As he watched her dodge a trolley, dance from left to right with someone walking the opposite direction and skidding on some discarded food he realised there was really nothing she could do about the fact that the universe threw in her way all obstacles imaginable. Sitting back down in front of him she carefully ripped a corner of the white salt sachet off and poured the contents onto her side plate. McCoy began to realise what she was up to and buried his head in hands, despairing at the idiocy of it all. Pushing the toothpick into the sachet she sat the flag on top of the mashed potato castle.

"Ta da!" Lorna trumpeted, grinning at McCoy, he didn't say anything though. "You're finding me incredibly attractive right about now aren't you?" It was a joke, but as she said it and saw that McCoy blanched at her words Lorna knew she'd maybe skirted too close to the edge of whatever they were doing.

"Who wouldn't?" Oh thank God! McCoy was just going with it. "Are you going to eat the castle?"

"Where would everybody live?" Lorna asked looking genuinely concerned, McCoy tipped his empty drinks cup onto its side.

"Here?" He suggested, Lorna looked at the cup and pulled a face.

"I don't think so?" McCoy stood and pushed in his chair.

"Come on, we better be going." Lorna stood herself and as they walked and McCoy's hand came to rest on the small of her back, guiding her through the crowd and preventing her from knocking into things she felt those twinges in her stomach again. maybe she should have eaten the mashed potato castle and pea moat?

* * *

"Lorna?!" McCoy stage whispered.

"What?" She mumbled back.

"You can't fall asleep in the middle of the key note speech!" Apparently she could.

"Sure I can, watch. See." McCoy rolled his eyes as Lorna readjusted her head on his shoulder.

"Don't you want to hear what the man has to say?" He wasn't even convinced by his own argument, plus he was enjoying the feeling of her head on his shoulder too much. They seemed to fit perfectly.

"You can tell me later, I don't like his voice. I don't trust him." She whispered back.

"Because of his voice?!" What did that even mean?

"He sounds shifty. You can tell me after, I prefer it when you tell me things." Lorna's eyes were closed and she was barely whispering. McCoy shook his head but was smiling despite himself.

* * *

"Lorna?!"

"What?!" Lorna pulled her head off his shoulder and looked at him angrily, why wasn't he letting her sleep?

"It's finished." He said to her, bemused at her post nap grumpiness.

"What? It just started." Looking around the auditorium she realised that most of the people had already left.

"No, it hasn't. It's been two hours." Sheepishly rubbing her face with her hands Lorna raked her hands through her hair. When her fringe didn't fall flat McCoy impulsively reached out to straighten it and saw that Lorna's chocolate eyes were staring at him. He opened his mouth to apologise but didn't, he wasn't sorry. Lorna was looking at him in such a way that made him keep his hand up by her hair and as he trailed his fingers down her cheek he smiled when she grinned.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind them made both Lorna and McCoy look away from another.

"Can I ask that you leave the auditorium please?" The miserable, disgruntled cleaner made Lorna laugh and although McCoy was seething at the interruption he couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh also. Muttering an apology the pair made their way out, hypothesising the potential relationship status of the poor man as they went.

Holding the door open McCoy let Lorna pass him until they were stood outside in the cool evening air, looking up at the sky Lorna let her breath out slowly and hummed.

"I like evenings like this." McCoy was watching her keenly, she suddenly seemed serious to him and he found that he was surprised once more by her. He guessed she'd been right, you really couldn't judge a person by their coat?!

"Me too." He agreed, coming to stand in front of her and hesitantly taking her hand in his, pleased when she intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed soothingly.

"What would you rather do…?" Lorna started and McCoy couldn't help but roll his eyes, realising that Lorna Heiland could only hold off her daftness for a short period of time before it started seeping back. But when she took a step closer to him he stopped smiling and swallowed hard. "What would you rather do Leonard…?" Oh boy! He was in trouble. "Kiss me under the sun, or the stars?" Any empty air between them was done away with.

"Now that's a line!" He commended her.

"I thought you'd like that." Giving him a wink Lorna waited for him to answer.

"Do I have to pick one?" So, very very close.

"I guess not." As each one closed their eyes Lorna hummed again in anticipation. McCoy brought his head towards hers as Lorna pulled herself up on her tiptoes and as they both felt their bottom lips graze they smiled with happiness. "Oww! Sonofabitch!" She pulled back so quickly McCoy grabbed her shoulders thinking she would fall over.

"What?!" He watched as she pulled her hand away from her neck and looking down at the palm of her hand with the mushed bug lying there snorted and shook his head. "Only you." Lorna was still rubbing her neck, wincing at the pain radiating from the sting.

"It really hurt!" She whinged as McCoy pulled her hand away to take a look.

"Oh quit being such a baby…" Lorna stumbled back and brought her hands to her chest and McCoy's alarm bells went off immediately. "Lorna? Are you alright?" Hearing her wheeze and struggle for breath McCoy took hold of her, as her legs gave in he lowered her to the floor. "Lorna, talk to me!" He shouted, checking her pulse and loosening her uniform around her neck.

"My throat…tight…" She struggled.

"You're suffering…" His mind was racing with possibilities. "Anaphylaxis…?" He trailed off, looking around frantically McCoy couldn't see anybody, and looking back down at Lorna he knew he only had a matter of minutes. Pulling her up he set off back to his quarters, knowing he had his medical kit there.

"I'm not allergic." Lorna managed to rasp out as her eyes flickered shut.

"Goddamnit Lorna! Only you!"

* * *

As her eyes fluttered open Lorna groaned and buried her head in the pillow, a low light was on in the corner of the room but it felt like she was staring directly at the sun. Moving her arm she felt something tug against the blanket covering her. Peering down she blinked deliberately to focus her eyes on the IV in her arm, pulling herself up she looked around the room. It was identical to the one she'd been assigned but she knew it wasn't hers as there was clothes and bags everywhere. Surprisingly, she was a very tidy person. Moving to get out of bed she stopped when she noticed McCoy sat in the low chair beside her, he was asleep with his hands clasped in front of him, resting on his stomach. His head was at an awkward angle and he was sporting a grimace that made Lorna anxious. It was still dark outside, Lorna figured it was probably early morning? Slipping her legs out from under the cover she pulled the blanket away from her, seeing her crumpled uniform she tried not to think about the wave of sickness that was currently washing over her.

"Whoa there! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Looking up she saw McCoy coming to his feet, his arms outstretched ready to catch her. She tried to answer but when he shushed her and pushed her back down she knew there was no point protesting. She'd seen too many times the way he was with his patients and it was no democracy that was for sure! Lorna let him lift her legs back up onto the bed and push her back down, the blanket being tucked back around her and the IV being checked.

She just watched him silently.

"I had to give you Epinephrine and Oxygen to help you breathe." He explained to her.

"I've been stung before and never had a reaction?" She said confused.

"By a Bee, on Earth, not by whatever that was, here!" McCoy countered, rubbing his face with his hands tiredly.

"I suppose not." Her throat hurt.

"When it's daylight I want you back on the shuttle, I've contacted the Enterprise. I want to run a full diagnostic…" Lorna sort of tuned out to what McCoy was saying, she could see it on his face. He'd been scared and she felt awful that she'd been the cause. She knew it wasn't her fault, it had been a complete freak accident of course, but she still felt bad.

"Leonard?" She tried to interrupt him but he continued to rattle off the battery of tests he was planning for her. "Leonard?" She tried again, pulling her arm out from under the cover she stretched it out towards him and when he saw it he stopped talking and grasped it immediately. Coming to sit on the side of the bed McCoy brushed her fringe off her forehead delicately.

"Only you." He whispered.

"Would you rather your uniform be always two sizes too big or one size too small?" McCoy barked with laughter and Lorna smiled, feeling better that she had lifted the dark cloud that had been following him around.

"Damnit Lorna you could have died." He said with an anguished tone but he was grateful that she'd made him laugh.

"But I didn't, you saved me. So now I'm in debt to you." She loved the feeling of his fingers in her hair.

"You are?"

"Sure, isn't that what happens when someone saves your life?" When she creased her brow McCoy found himself smoothing out the wrinkles on the bridge of her nose and between her eyes with his thumb.

"I'll take your word for it." McCoy squeezed her hand again. "We were about to kiss." He stated simply.

"We were?" Lorna asked pretending to be shocked.

"Yes, we were. This wasn't some ridiculous way of getting out of it was it?" Lorna pretended to think.

"Ummm no." She finally answered.

"Good." McCoy leant towards her. "Can we try again?"

"Can I brush my teeth?" McCoy laughed at her question.

"Sure, I'll help you to the bathroom." Lorna found him so tender and caring as they slowly made their way to the bathroom that she felt, when it was time for her to let go of him, that she didn't want to, ever. "Are we going to stay like this?" McCoy asked when Lorna hadn't let go of his arms.

"I'm going to say yes."

"Alright, you let me know when you're ready." McCoy buried his face into her hair on the top of her head and closed his eyes. A minute or two later Lorna looked up at him.

"Okay, that's enough." Pulling away she gave him a lopsided grin and went to the sink. "Can I borrow your toothbrush?" She asked.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of big step in our relationship?" McCoy answered severely.

"Too soon?" Lorna laughed picking up the toothbrush anyway.

"It's just all going so fast, next you'll be asking to move in, get a dog…?!" Giving her a wink McCoy closed the door giving her some privacy. On the other side he grinned, counting his lucky stars.

"Can we call the dog Douglas?" He heard her shout through the door.

"Absolutely not! The only acceptable name for a dog is Butler." He shouted back.

 **The End**


	8. Chapter 8

"No look, I'm telling you, you can do it."

"You're having a laugh!" Lorna dismissed the Nurse with a wave of her hand.

"I'm serious, go on, try it!" Giving Nurse Vallo a wry grin she prepared to do a handstand against the medical bay wall.

"I haven't done one of these since I was teenager!" Lorna looked at her in horror as she held her hands out.

"So what? Like twenty years ago?" Nurse Vallo asked sarcastically to which Lorna scowled at her and launched herself at the wall.

"Look at me!" Lorna shouted, managing to actually, surprisingly to everybody involved, do a pretty good handstand against the wall.

"Look at you!" Vallo replied clapping.

"How do I look?" Lorna asked.

"You look good!" Vallo stood smiling.

"Doctor Heiland?" Vallo turned to see McCoy stood in the doorframe of his office, taking a step to one side so that she was no longer blocking his view the Nurse watched as McCoy's eyes landed on an upside down Lorna.

"Yes Doctor McCoy?" Lorna shouted, the blood rushing to her head making her turn a vivid pink colour. Without missing a beat or looking at her strangely McCoy continued.

"Did you finish that report on the crew physicals?"

"It's on your desk Sir." Lorna answered, still upside down, and with that McCoy nodded and returned to his desk. "Help me down." Vallo turned back to her and grabbed her shins, helping her slowly bring her feet back to the floor. "Your turn." Lorna said to Vallo who immediately started shaking her head.

"Oh no way, not a chance. Plus for some reason Doctor McCoy just accepts your craziness as if it's par for the course, I can guarantee if he found me doing a handstand he'd throw me in the brig!" Lorna laughed.

"I bribe him with chocolate."

"No you don't and don't pretend that you do." Vallo laughed.

"Then what do you think it is?" Lorna was intrigued.

"You know what it is, Doctor Heiland, you and Doctor McCoy are crazy cute together!" The Nurse made a soppy face as she fluttered her eyelashes.

"We are?" Lorna knew she was blushing, she was just thankful she was probably still red from all the blood in her head!

"Crazy cute! You know, for people your age…" Lorna scowled at the young woman again, she knew she was joking but it still wasn't lost on her that in comparison to a lot of the crew she and McCoy were older. Only slightly! Geez!

"Thanks Vallo." Waving her off Lorna went back to her work.

* * *

About an hour later and Vallo finished her shift, leaving Lorna in the bay and McCoy in his office. She didn't disturb him, knowing that after the recent away mission the bridge crew had been on he had his hands full finishing his reports.

Balancing a cranial regenerator on your forehead was actually pretty difficult!

She still couldn't get past more than three beds on the stool with wheels.

She did in fact remember all the words from the song they all couldn't stop singing that summer when she went camping with the girl's from university.

"Row row row your boat, gently down the stream…" Doing it in the round on your own just made you sound nuts though.

Her left leg was slightly shorter than the right.

"McCoy!" She shouted from the bed she was sat on. "McCoy!" She shouted again when she didn't get a response. "Can I use the skeletal graft?" That got his attention, a second later he was at the door.

"What?" He asked sternly, looking extremely confused.

"I need to make my left leg longer." She told him as if she was asking what he wanted on his pizza but when he pointed his finger at her as if she was a puppy she already knew the answer.

"Don't. You. Dare." And with that he disappeared. "By how much?" His head popping back round the door made her laugh.

"A sixth of a millimetre." She answered.

"Damnit Heiland!" He was gone again. Lorna sat and sulked for a while and then got up off the bed, moping around she finally settled on running through the equipment list.

'All hands brace for impact!'

"Shit!" Lorna wasn't sure how she managed it but she was pretty much thrown clear of all the surrounding apparatus as the ship pitched forwards. Patting herself down and pulling herself up she went straight to one of the main consoles, ensuring all their medical equipment was functioning, with a move like that crew would be turning up in a matter of minutes. Calling for all medical staff to go to their stations she took a second to look around. Then her eyes went to McCoy's office door and the fact that he wasn't already standing there shouting orders sent a shiver down her spine.

Skidding over she ran in and balked when she saw him lying on the floor unconscious, his desk on top of him.

"Leonard?!" Yanking a med kit from the wall she knelt beside him. "Leonard? You alive?" Running a scan over him she could see that he'd just been knocked out, there was no internal bleeding or broken bones, just a nasty bump to the head. Reducing the swelling and healing the cut on his forehead Lorna gave him a cocktail of hyposprays and as he came round smiled widely at him. "Hey there big fella, what you doing on the floor huh?" As McCoy groggily came round he tried sitting up, seeing Lorna's face went a long way in calming his nerves.

"What in the hell happened?" He asked, seeing that he was pinned under his own desk.

"Ship…" She had no idea what had happened?! "Did something?" She finished as she stood and prepared to lift the desk.

"I don't think you're gonna…" McCoy started.

"I'm going to try." Lorna interrupted him.

"But I really don't think…"

"Leonard! Let me try." Giving him a pointed look Lorna straightened her back and bent her knees and with an almighty oomph didn't move the desk an inch.

"Lorna." McCoy tried again but Lorna ignored him again and started to try and lift the desk, this time though, astonishingly to the both of them Lorna managed to lift it enough so that McCoy could slide out.

"Wow." McCoy stood and brushed himself off.

"Right?" Lorna agreed looking equally amazed, "I wonder what else I can lift? Maybe this is my thing, you know? 'Do you know Lorna Heiland?' 'Yeah, isn't she the one who can lift things?'" Lorna looked to McCoy excitedly.

"Shall we see what the hell is going on?" McCoy asked, refocussing on the task at hand and Lorna nodded.

"Sure, are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"Yes, thank you." With a quick squeeze of her hand McCoy went off to the crowd of medical staff that had gathered and were awaiting his instructions.

"I mean sure, we can carry on as nothing happened and ignore the fact that I have super human strength…" Lorna was at his side in a second.

* * *

"I can't feel my feet." Lorna lay on the couch in McCoy's office, her head and torso on the seats and her legs hanging over the arm rest. Her boots had been kicked off as soon as their shift had ended. McCoy sat on his chair, his desk still toppled over by his side, watching Lorna's polished electric blue toes wiggle around.

"I can feel a headache coming on." McCoy replied.

"How many patients did we treat?!"

"A hundred?"

"More!" The pair just stared off into the distance and the ceiling respectively. Throughout the course of day Lorna and McCoy had gone their separate ways, managing and treating a myriad of patients, every so often they would pass one another, McCoy giving her a sly wink and her whispering about her herculean strength.

"Good work today Heiland." Lorna smiled sleepily.

"You too." She answered.

"Lorna?" McCoy shouted out at her a moment later.

"Whaaa?"

"Don't fall asleep on my couch!" McCoy grunted as he slowly got to his feet.

"It's a comfy couch."

"I don't give a damn, come on, sit up." With an almighty groan Lorna pulled herself up, looking to McCoy who handed her his Whiskey.

"I shouldn't drink this." She told him as she drunk the Whiskey.

"And why not?" McCoy had already poured another one for himself and was topping up Lorna's outstretched empty glass.

"Because I'm a cheap date." Lorna toasted her glass and took another swig.

"I won't give you another." McCoy answered seriously.

"Much obliged. You know?!" Lorna blurted out as she resumed her original position on the couch but now balancing a glass on her stomach. "I wonder what you would have been if not a Doctor." She craned her neck to see if he was listening. "Do you think about things like that?"

"I try not to." McCoy replied solemnly.

"I think you would have been a… Teacher." She finally decided on. McCoy scoffed and shook his head.

"Most definitely not a Teacher." He responded.

"Then what?"

"A car mechanic."

"A what?"

"A mechanic, my Father had an old combustible engine automobile when I was a kid, he would tinker with that heap of rust for hours and I would watch him for hours. Not a bad way to while away the days." He'd never told anybody that in his life, Lorna considered his answer for a minute.

"Would you have worn those overalls? The ones with the buckles and the bib?" She asked.

"I guess so?" McCoy answered, confused by her bizarre and very specific question.

"Then yes, I can also see you doing that." She agreed with him. The Whiskey had gone from her glass but McCoy had left the bottle by her side, pouring herself another McCoy did the same.

"What about you?" He asked her.

"Me? I'm not sure, all I've ever wanted to do was look after people." Lorna waved her hands about as she spoke, deliberating her options. "Although I always wanted to try my hand at being a Musician, you know, playing in a jazz band or something? Those pokey little clubs filled with smoke?"

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I couldn't play an instrument." McCoy laughed despite himself. "What do you think I should have done?"

"That question could get me in trouble." McCoy slowly made his way over and lifting her legs off the side, sat down and placed her legs back. Turning to look at her Lorna stared back, searching his face for something.

"Go on, have a think." She urged him on. Taking a dramatic breath and scrunching his mouth to one side McCoy contemplated his answer, comically looking at her as if deep in thought. When Lorna started laughing McCoy took one of her hands that was resting in her lap and turned it over as if reading her palm.

"I see a stranger." He told her mysteriously.

"Ooh, is he tall, dark and handsome?" McCoy traced his finger across her palm and narrowed his eyes.

"No." He answered simply and Lorna stuck out her bottom lip in disappointment. "He's short, pale and ugly."

"Just my luck." Lorna tutted, letting her hand fall back to her lap McCoy took a swig of his drink and let his head loll back.

"I think you'd have been great at whatever you ended up doing Lorna." He said whilst his head was still back and his eyes closed. Lorna was taken aback at the sincerity of his words and it might have been the Whiskey, but well she felt her throat tighten with the threat of tears. Clearing her throat she caught his attention. "What is it? What's wrong?" McCoy asked worried. Lorna was waving her hands in front of her face but she couldn't stop the tears from filling up.

"Nothing, it's nothing, it's just. Well, that's a really nice thing to say and I guess well. Oh God! Sorry! I don't know why I'm so emotional?! Well I do know, we've been busy and I've been on my feet all day and they hurt and when my feet hurt I cry…"

"Lorna?"

"What?"

"Stop talking."

"Okay. I'm okay." The pair sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the quiet and each other's company. When McCoy's comm badge beeped and he was asked to go to the bridge he swore under his breath.

"Don't fall asleep on my couch Heiland." McCoy warned as he slid out from under her legs.

"I won't." Lorna answered as she turned onto her side and rested her head in her hands.

"I'm serious Heiland, don't fall asleep on my couch."

"Yeah, I heard you. No falling asleep on the couch. Got it, loud and clear." Her eyes were closed and she was snoring lightly before McCoy had even left.

* * *

"Doctor Heiland? Is everything alright?" Kirk looked up from his chair at Lorna who was hovering by his side, watching as she kept her arms crossed in front of her and standing nowhere near anything he tried to hide the smirk appearing on his lips.

"Me Captain? I'm okay. Thanks for asking, you?" Lorna gave Kirk a quick, borderline frantic grin.

"I'm fine." He answered reluctantly before requesting Uhura to open the communication to the planet below. "Commodore Drake, it's good to see you in one piece." Kirk greeted the elder man.

"Captain Kirk, boy are we glad to see you." Drake replied relieved.

"I take it we could be of some help to you down there?" Kirk shifted his weight, leaning against the arm of his chair as he spoke.

"We'd be grateful."

"Not at all, Doctor Heiland here…"

"Hi!" Lorna greeted the Commodore with a small wave, interrupting Kirk and gaining an amused look from both men.

"Doctor Heiland will beam down with a number of her team to help out with the outbreak, she's one of Starfleet's best." Blushing at Kirk's compliment she whispered a 'thank you' in his direction.

"That's good to hear." Commodore Drake nodded respectively at both Kirk and Lorna before the communication ended.

"Well Doc, you're up." Kirk said with a slap of his hand on his thigh.

"Okay, well, I'll be off then, thanks Captain." Tripping up the step towards the turbolift Lorna gave everybody a lopsided grin. "Behave yourselves while I'm gone!" She joked, pointing her finger at Kirk but immediately regretted it. It had sounded funny in her head but the reality of telling the Captain of the Enterprise to ' _behave themselves_ ' hadn't translated as well as she'd hoped. Grimacing Lorna pressed the button for the turbolift repeatedly and all but fell in before disappearing.

* * *

"What is that?" One week later and McCoy looked up from his desk to see Lorna walk in, looking dead on her feet and holding a bowl of something.

"Hummus." Lorna answered, planting herself on his couch and spooning the physical chickpea manifestation of heaven into her mouth.

"You're just going to eat it like that? Not with some pitta, or crackers?" He asked as he watched her spoon another life altering, chickpea is the beginning, the middle and the end mouthful in to her gob.

"Why would I contaminate the magnificence of the hummus with a cracker Leonard? There's something seriously wrong with you?!" Shaking her head she scraped the spoon round the edge of the bowl, she was contemplating whether or not she'd get away with licking the bowl clean as McCoy came to sit beside her.

"How'd it go?"

"Good, contained the infection and vaccinated the remaining people." She didn't look up from her one true love and best friend as she answered but made a tick sound with her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she held her spoon above her head in triumph.

"Jim said Drake was happy, praised you in particular. Mentioned something about a born leader, rallying the troops, took her job very seriously…" Lorna scoffed and snorted at the same time. "Yeah, I pretty much had the same reaction!" McCoy agreed, knowing enough of Lorna to know that part of her ' _charade_ ' was to make light of her accomplishments and talents. "Good job." He finally said.

"Ta." Lorna answered quickly. "Well, just thought I'd bob in and say hello. Hello." Punctuating her greeting with a wave of her hand she stood up. "I'm going to take a nice long shower and go to bed." Silently offering McCoy a spoonful of astonishing, beautiful hummus and pulling a face when he shook his head no she gave him another wave of her hand as she left his office.

"I'm more of a Tzatziki guy myself." He shouted after her and without turning round she raised her free hand in the air in protestation.

"Blasphemy McCoy! Blasphemy! I will not tolerate a bad word spoken in relation to the almighty chickpea!" And with that she was gone, leaving McCoy coming to the realisation that he'd missed her more than he ought.

Enough was enough.

* * *

"For the love of God Kostas!" Holding onto her chest Lorna glared at the Doctor angrily, it was a well-known fact amongst the medical staff that Lorna Heiland was easily scared. Nurses would hide in the stock cupboard, Doctors would hide behind doors and no matter how many times they did it Lorna always screamed and fell for their pranks.

"I hid in the exact same spot last week, how could you not know that's what I was doing?!" Kostas asked as the pair made their way through the bay.

"Because I trust my colleagues Kostas and wouldn't expect them to take advantage of my nervous disposition." Kostas frowned at her.

"Now I feel bad."

"Good, you should. It's not big and it's not clever." Giving them a wink Lorna continued on her way, checking in with her patients and signing off treatments.

"Kostas scare you again?" Not looking up from her PADD Lorna smiled at McCoy's words as he stood behind her.

"You heard?" She asked, still looking at her PADD.

"I think Crew in Engineering heard you." McCoy commented, chuckling to himself.

"Ha. Ha." Lorna turned to peer up at him. "You busy?" She asked and McCoy shook his head. "You want to go get a coffee?" McCoy nodded his head. "My word Doctor McCoy, you're chatty today!"

"I have a lot on my mind." He answered as they made their way out and towards the mess hall.

"Care to share with the class?" Lorna picked some lint off his uniform as they rode in the turbolift.

"I've been pondering…"

"Pondering?" Lorna repeated looking good humouredly at him.

"Yes, pondering. I've been pondering where to take you on a date." Lorna pressed her lips together to stop from beaming.

"You have?" McCoy nodded.

"I never did get that kiss Lorna." He took a step towards her and Lorna blushed.

Their plan hadn't worked out the way they had expected after he'd left her in the bathroom to brush her teeth that night. When she'd finally come back out she saw that McCoy had curled up on the other side of the bed, eyes closed and breathing steady. He'd been taking care of her all night and it had finally caught up with him, Lorna didn't disturb him though, knowing that there would be a knock on the door soon enough. Instead, she scooted back under the covers on her side and watched him for a while. Eventually she started whispering shocking and vulgar confessions to him to see if he was faking and when he couldn't help but smirk, they found themselves talking. Just talking. Until finally she fell asleep herself, the two lovebirds snoring lightly.

After that, well life got in the way, work, shifts, patients, dinner, spraining an ankle, getting stuck in a torpedo, contracting a deadly virus. You know, the usual stuff!

"You didn't?!" Lorna pretended to be shocked.

"No Darlin', I didn't." McCoy's hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her towards him.

"With my brains and your looks, we could go places." Lorna looked at him through her lashes, mimicking her best 1930's film noir vixen. She'd never heard the sound that McCoy made right then and there but boy if she didn't take it as a personal challenge to get him to make it again! With two fingers he tilted her head up towards him.

"You're crazy." His eyes wondered over her face, taking in every little detail.

"Perhaps you should just take the bull by the horns? Stop messing around?" McCoy's eyebrows raised in astonishment.

"I ain't been resting on my laurels Lorna." He defended himself.

"Could of fooled me, to my mind we should be kissing right now." And that was enough, McCoy closed the gap between them and they fit together like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It was sweet, tender and passionate. It was everything she'd hoped it would be and everything he knew it would be. It felt old hat, like they'd been together forever. At one point they smiled against one another, teeth knocking into teeth and at another point Lorna started talking which McCoy quickly nipped in the bud by deepening their kiss. Finally, reluctantly they pulled apart.

"That was nice." Lorna muttered, her cheek resting against his.

"Yeah?" He was planting small kisses along her jawbone.

"Yeah." She answered. "You still want to take me out on that date?" His hand was trailing down her back and he knew they'd both be in trouble if they didn't stop sharpish.

"Don't see why not?" Lorna laughed and pulled away, as the door opened she turned to give him a sultry wink as she walked out.

Oomph!

McCoy couldn't be sure, but he was pretty certain Lorna had actually physically bounced off of Kirk and as the two men stood over her, one creasing their brow in confusion and the other folding their arms in despair Lorna held on to her head and smiled.

"I'm okay!"

 **The End**


	9. Chapter 9

"This is nice." Lorna sat at the dining table in the rec room, one of the most coveted positions that afforded both patrons a view of the stars from the large observation deck beside them.

"Nice?" McCoy queried.

"Lovely," she corrected herself. McCoy just smiled at her, enjoying seeing her out of uniform.

"You look very beautiful tonight," he whispered and Lorna's face became serious all of a sudden.

"I do?" she knew she should have just taken the compliment, not been so in need of another's praise but that was a part of her personality she had always wrestled with, worked on to improve, but wrestled with nonetheless.

"Yes Lorna, you do." McCoy didn't take advantage of her vulnerability by making a sarcastic quip; he found he'd figured her out pretty much in all her entirety in the time they'd spent together.

"Thank you Leonard." As she blushed she took a sip of her water, the ice cubes clunking against her teeth loudly. "Smooth," she unconsciously muttered to herself making McCoy smirk mildly. He watched her carefully as she re-arranged all her cutlery on the table, turning everything so that it was at a perfect right angle. He realised she was nervous, perhaps even more so than he was. Reaching his hand out over the table he grasped her small hand in his, a teaspoon still clutched in hers.

"Lorna, why are you so nervous? It's just a date, the hard part is already over." He said, referring to the fact that they'd already kissed. He smiled warmly at her, hoping his calm would ease her nervousness. He regretted letting go of her hand as he watched as she held on to the handle of the teaspoon and repeatedly tapped the other end in the palm of her other hand. It was making a thudding sound and McCoy found himself completely distracted, "Lorna?" he finally said and watched her jump, the spoon flying through the air and landing between two other tables. He watched aghast as she scooted out of her chair clumsily and hurried over to the tableware, apologising to the other diners and scurrying back.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked, as if what just happened hadn't happened at all.

"Of course." He really wished he hadn't let go of her hand.

"I've never been on a date, well not like this. I've dated, but I've never been on a date, not with anybody that I actually wanted to…" she gave him an apologetic grin. "I'm making myself sound like some weird person, I'm not weird." Rolling her eyes at her own words Lorna shrunk into her chair, get a grip!

"I married a first date, so swings and roundabouts I guess." McCoy grinned at her and was eternally grateful in that moment that he was there with only her.

"Hey! You used it correctly!" Lorna exclaimed, referring to the old turn of phrase, to which McCoy gave her a knowing wink. They sat staring at one another for a moment, big smiles appearing on both their faces. "This is nice," she repeated.

"You've already said that."

"I know, well, it's still true." Lorna stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth to stop her from talking.

"I think we should do this again." McCoy commented after a moment of silence between the pair.

"You're not enjoying this one?"

"No! It's precisely the fact that I am enjoying this one that I already know we should do it again."

"Oh?" Lorna nodded slowly. "I'd like that," she agreed. They were interrupted by a server appearing with two cloche covered plates, setting them down he smiled knowingly.

"I hope you don't mind, I went ahead and ordered something for us?" McCoy told her to which Lorna nodded enthusiastically. With a little fanfare the server unveiled their food to which Lorna snorted loudly and proceeded to laugh to the point of tears. On the pristine white plate sat the most perfectly constructed mashed potato and pea castle, with moat, gravy river and salt sachet flag.

"Bon appetit."

* * *

"What are you doing?" McCoy asked.

"Nothing." Lorna answered.

"That's clearly not the case." Why was he even asking?

"Umhum." She really couldn't be bothered answering.

"Lorna?" McCoy said.

"What?" Lorna replied.

"What are you doing?" Really?!

"Nothing." McCoy gently swept the hair covering Lorna's eyes with his thumb and smiled when she made a contented, ' _I don't want to move_ ' sound. "I'm trying to figure out what my routine is on this side of the bed." She answered, pulling herself onto her front and tucking her hands under the two pillows that her head was currently resting on. He liked it when she rested on her front, that way he could play with the two dimples at the base of her spine.

"Routine?" McCoy asked, propping his head up with his hand as he lay beside her.

"Yes, so, when I go to sleep I have a routine. You don't have a routine?" She asked.

"No Darlin'." McCoy answered amused. "Call me simple, but I'm a head on pillow, close eyes kind of fella."

"Well, that's strange, anyhow. To go to sleep I first sleep on my left, curled up, like this." McCoy watched as Lorna put herself in that position. "And then I go on my front and tuck my hands in." Again Lorna demonstrated the aforementioned sleep position. "And then I go on my right." Huffing Lorna lay flat on her back and McCoy found himself altogether distracted.

"I take it there's a problem?" McCoy asked, puling himself up to hang over her.

"Big problem!" Lorna answered looking up at him.

"Explain it to me." He asked, his hand trailing down her arm.

"Well, you see my bed points east and yours west."

"I see." McCoy interrupted.

"Leonard, I'm not finished?!" Lorna looked at him pointedly.

"My apologies, please, continue." He was getting preoccupied by the way her hipbones protruded.

"And yours west, but you see on Earth Jupiter reaches an altitude of twenty six degrees above the south-eastern horizon." McCoy nodded slowly, not understanding what she was saying in the slightest.

"And that's bad?" He hesitated.

"No that's good!" How was he not getting this?

"Okay, so what's the problem?" He tried to concentrate really hard.

"The sun rises in the east." McCoy looked at her blankly.

"I see." He finally answered and Lorna looked sceptically at him.

"You do?" She asked, pulling him down on top of her.

"Sure, I mean…that's not west." Lorna grinned at him. "What? What is it?" She was looking at him funny.

"You are wonderful you know that don't you?" She said, pulling him closer.

"Why?" He didn't understand what was going on, he rarely did when he was with Lorna Heiland.

"Because I made all of that up and you just went with it, you completely committed to the part and just went with my craziness." McCoy looked at her shocked but grinned back at her, he didn't tell her but he'd almost found himself making sense of what she was saying.

"Well you might have made it up Darlin' but to my mind having Jupiter on the wrong side of you when sleeping is never a good thing." Lorna's face dropped and McCoy knew he'd got her back, hook, line and sinker!

"What?" She pushed at his shoulders so that she could see his face.

"What?" He repeated, pretending to not pick up on the fact that she was looking at him like he was a nutter.

"No I said what." Lorna repeated.

"I didn't say anything?" McCoy gave her a peck on the end of her nose and pulled himself up and out of bed. "I'm going to go get ready." Lorna stayed in bed watching him flutter round the bedroom until eventually he went into the bathroom.

"WHAT?" He heard her shout again which just made him chuckle, but he still didn't reply.

* * *

The sound of Glenn Miller's 'A String of Pearls' blasted out in the medical bay, Lorna lay on her front on bio-bed two, her arms hanging over the sides. Wow night shifts could be boring! She'd just had a nice little snooze (unintentionally of course) and currently she was wondering why her right nostril was blocked. Inelegantly pulling herself up she sighed heavily, how was she going to fill the next several hours? McCoy had given her a book to read as a way to while away the time but she'd left it in her quarters. Sitting crossed legged she tried to pull her legs into that position people do when doing yoga.

"How do they even do this?!" She stopped trying when she nearly toppled off the bed and ended up giving herself that feeling of nearly being sick because you knew you were 'this close' to hurting yourself, badly! Looking up at the ceiling she rolled out the creaks in her neck, pursing her lips together she must have stayed like that for a solid ninety seconds before snapping out of her daydream and jumping down off the bed. Throwing her hands out towards the main med bay doors she tried to harness the powers of a magician, or wizard or something. "Come… on… plasma burns!" The door didn't open. "Guess I don't have any powers." Lorna mumbled as she twirled herself round on the spot.

* * *

The recording echoed out around the med bay as Lorna lay on the floor concentrating.

"HIja'" The computer enunciated.

"HIja'" Lorna repeated the Klingon word.

"Translate; Don't be silly." The computer requested and Lorna cleared her throat.

"yIDoghQo'" She shouted.

"Correct. Translate. Your mother has a smooth forehead!" Lorna creased her brow in thought.

"Hab SoSlI' Quch!"

"Correct. Translate Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam " Ooh that was a tough one!

"Today is a good day to die!" Doing her best Klingon impression she hit her chest with her fist as she shouted out the translation. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam"

"Correct."

"Ow!" She'd actually managed to hurt herself. "Computer, end lesson."

Doing snow angels not in snow but on a med bay floor wasn't as fun.

Playing knock a door run with the science bay opposite was hilarious! Until she panicked and Lieutenant Doetsch opened the door before she rang, scaring her half to death and making her run into the wall instead of running through the med bay door.

"Sorry Doetsch!" She shouted when she opened a communication to the poor science officer.

"Remember what happened when you tried to override the lock?" He said warningly and Lorna cringed.

"Yeah, alright, fine." Closing off the communication Lorna filled her mouth up with air and blew it out like a fish a couple of times. "What to do?" She muttered to herself, looking around the bay. Looking over to McCoy's office a smile formed on her lips, hurriedly skipping over she closed the door behind her and sat at his desk. Turning on his desktop she quickly typed the message.

 **Alright Doctor Sexypants?! Sat here bored out of my mind! Just thought I'd let you know. Bye X**

Lorna grinned at her own immaturity but sent the message anyway, pushing his chair back in she left his office smiling at the thought that he'd see the note in his inbox when he turned up for work in the morning. The main door opening caught her attention and when Ensign Xin Xia walked in she practically ran over and hugged the man.

"What's wrong Ensign?" She asked, trying to keep her excitement and eagerness to treat a patient under wraps.

"Sorry Doc, I wouldn't have even bothered you with this but my Wife told me I had to." He told her apologetically.

"Don't you apologise Ensign! There is nothing too small or insignificant that you should ever ignore or not come get treated. Now, what seems to be the problem?" She asked, internally hoping for a decent case of appendicitis.

"I've got really bad indigestion." Lorna's face dropped, all hope was lost!

"Indigestion?" She repeated disbelievingly.

"Yeah, sorry Doc." Xin Xia answered sheepishly. Lorna gave herself a second to reply, trying to keep the disappointment off her face and in her tone of voice. All she needed to do was give him a hypospray. That was crap!

"Don't apologise Ensign, just give me a minute." Sulking off to retrieve the hypospray Lorna came back and administered the medicine. "All done." She told him sadly.

"Thanks Doc, much appreciated." Hopping off the bed Xin Xia gave her a big grin and started making his way to the door.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else Ensign Xia?" She shouted after him.

"Err no, that's great! Thanks Doc!" Giving her a bit of a sideways glance Xin Xia picked up his pace and left, leaving Lorna stood pouting, pulling her earbuds from her coat pocket she popped them in her ears. Selecting some music to listen to, she made sure it wasn't too loud, just in case somebody came in.

"Now I've had the time of my life, no, I never felt like this before. Yes I swear it's the truth, and I owe it all to you…" Lorna was pretty adept at the shoulder shimmy, in fact, she found herself doing a full on Swayze down the middle of the bay.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Lorna spun on her heel and screeched when she saw McCoy stood clapping.

"Damn it Leonard you scared me!" Lorna looked at him angrily.

"Sorry Darlin', just thought I'd come and check in on you." McCoy closed the gap between them and gave her a long, gentle kiss. As they pulled away from one another a blue little light flashing on the ship's environmental controls caught Lorna's eye, making her way over she scanned the readouts.

"That's not good." Frowning Lorna opened a communication channel to Kirk, all the while McCoy putting together the pieces himself. "Doctor Heiland to Captain Kirk?" She waited for a response and when none came her level of panic began to rise. "Captain Kirk, come in." She repeated staring at McCoy with concern.

"Doctor?" Kirk's voice was strained and panicked, something was definitely wrong she knew that much. Tapping away on the console again she swore under her breath, "Leonard, come with me, now." Grabbing his hand she made a mad dash towards the decontamination chamber, McCoy happy for her to take the lead. "Computer, isolate chamber and place on lock down." She could feel the slight pull of air around her and the two ping sounds denoting that they were locked in allowed her to let out the breath she'd been holding. "Computer, ship wide environmental check." She instructed as McCoy went to the other console and started tapping away himself.

"How was Jim affected but not us?" He asked, not knowing what they were dealing with but knowing enough to know that the crew were breathing something in that they shouldn't be.

"Perhaps the life support units rotate to different decks in different orders?" Lorna guessed, not having a clue what she was saying but it still somehow making sense to both her and McCoy.

"Ship wide environmental check complete." The computer answered.

"Results." McCoy instructed.

"Airborne contagion level detected." McCoy gave Lorna the briefest of looks before turning back to his console.

"Contagion?" Lorna got to work, trying to run diagnostic after diagnostic. "Computer, give me the chemical composition of the ship's atmospheric controls."

"Seventy eight point zero nine percent nitrogen, twenty point nine five percent oxygen, zero point nine three percent argon, zero point zero four percent carbon dioxide, one point five percent nitrous oxide and current variable water vapour of zero point four percent."

"Nitrous oxide? From where?" Lorna scanned all decks of the ship. "Computer, increase oxygen levels to compensate for the nitrous oxide."

"Oxygen increased."

"It'll take a while for the oxygen to take effect, we need to get out there though, there may be some people who got a pretty heavy dose?" McCoy came to stand beside Lorna.

"Computer, locate source of the nitrous oxide." Lorna instructed. "I'll stay here, try to figure out what happened and prep for patients, you get yourself out there." McCoy nodded.

"You read my mind Darlin'." McCoy answered, pulling equipment together quickly.

"Or we could just leave it, have a brew instead?" She gave him a blank stare and McCoy responded with an equally dry eye roll.

"Deck eight." The computer came back with its result.

"Quarantine deck eight environmental controls from the rest of the ship and proceed with repairs diagnostic." The decontamination chamber was small, but both Lorna and McCoy danced around one another like synchronised swimmers. Working as a team, knowing what the other would do next, what the other needed next.

"Confirmed." Removing the lock on the decontamination chamber Lorna watched as McCoy strode out of the medical bay and smiled, quickly going back to her own work. "Nobody puts baby in the corner," she whispered.

* * *

"We did good today." McCoy spun Lorna's hair round and round his fingers as she laid her head in his lap.

"Yes we did." She agreed. "Good job us."

"Do you want me to get you some hummus?" He asked and Lorna beamed at him wildly.

"I love that you know I eat hummus when something ' _big_ ' has happened." She told him.

"I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed." Lorna looked up as McCoy enacted a rather theatrical yawn and stretch.

"Wow, smooth move Mister!" Lorna laughed. "Yeah, you really sold that one!" McCoy pulled her up into his lap.

"I thought I'd got away with that?!" He definitely knew that he hadn't.

"I didn't say it hadn't worked." She clarified as she planted kisses down his jaw, when he made a humming sound she laughed. "Make that sound again." She told him and he did. Anything to make her happy.

"Come on, I haven't got all day." McCoy unceremoniously shoved her off of him resulting in her nearly toppling off the couch.

"Leonard?! What the hell?!" Lorna looked at him in shock, not quite believing what he'd done. With one hand bracing herself on the floor she stared at him smiling. "Really?" She asked astonished but McCoy just threw her a wink and walked out of the living room.

Oh God! She'd created a monster!

Throughout the time it took the pair of them to brush their teeth and get out of their uniforms Lorna asked a multitude of questions; who did he think gave the best hugs out of the bridge crew? Did he think the chef in the main mess hall had probably, likely, definitely killed someone? If her tunic was tucked into her knickers would he tell her?

"Of course, but maybe…" McCoy faltered.

"Aha! I knew it!" Lorna pointed her toothbrush at him and spoke with a mouthful of bubbling minty foam.

"I'd let you walk up and down the med bay a few times first." He admitted truthfully.

"You're an awful man Leonard McCoy." Eyeing him suspiciously she spat out her toothpaste just as he was washing his brush, making sure she sprayed it all over his hand.

"Lorna! You're disgusting!" McCoy laughed, she didn't reply, still pretending to be angry.

When McCoy took her hand and walked her to bed, untucking the covers and then comically tucking her back in Lorna's lip twitched.

"What is it?" McCoy asked, seeing the feeling pass over her face.

"I don't remember us not being together like this." She whispered to him.

"Me neither." McCoy agreed, pulling his arm up and round so that she could burrow into the crook of his neck. And as with all good things, the moment was interrupted with the chime of McCoy's doorbell. "Goddamnit!" He groaned into her chest.

"Maybe they'll go away?" Lorna suggested half-heartedly.

"Knowing our luck I highly doubt it."

"Just ignore it." Lorna distracted McCoy from the door, a few little nips and pinches here and there doing the trick. Alas, the chime rang out again and with a flourish of bed covers McCoy was on his feet and storming out of the room. Opening the door McCoy's eyes narrowed on Kirk.

"What do you want Jim?" He asked gruffly.

"Is that any way to greet a friend Bones?" Kirk answered good naturedly.

"It is when I'm trying to get some sleep." Kirk could tell he was going to be invited in so walked passed his CMO anyway. "Jim, seriously?! What do you want?" McCoy stood staring after him, clad in only his sweatpants.

"Just wanted to pass on my thanks, you and Doctor Heiland really saved the day today." Kirk was being genuine, it really had been a scary experience and could have been altogether worse if it weren't for Lorna and McCoy's quick response.

"Don't mention it Jim…" McCoy was waving him off already, he appreciated the thanks but it was never necessary. It was a quick, silly little problem, fixed quicker than it lasted.

"Yeah well, I am, you and Heiland make a good team." McCoy didn't reply. "Speaking of, how are you and, she?" Kirk asked inquisitively. His friend gave him titbits from time to time but he wasn't one for sharing as it were.

"We're good Jim, thanks, now, I really do need to be getting some sleep." McCoy was practically pushing Kirk out of his quarters.

"You're no fun Bones." Kirk whispered to him.

"I know." He replied, opening his door but before he could get rid of him Kirk stopped and shouted out.

"Good night Lorna!" And when the reply came.

"Good night Captain!" from the bedroom Kirk grinned at McCoy who could only close the door behind him and shake his head tiredly.

"Will you ever get bored of me?" she asked him when he'd got back into bed.

"Not likely!" McCoy answered. "You?"

"Absolutely not! You're stuck with me McCoy, whether you like it or not." McCoy kissed the top of her head.

"I'm counting on it."

* * *

McCoy strode in to the Med Bay the next morning bright eyed and bushytailed, nodding at the Nurses who had congregated in the middle of the bay he bid them good morning. A chorus of 'good mornings' came back his way but one stuck out more than the others. It was Nurse Vallo, who's very friendly and energetic, 'Good morning Doctor Sexypants' made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Closing the door to his office and sitting down at his desk he started to work through his normal morning routine; part of which was seeing if he had nay messages waiting for him. And lo and behold! A message from Lorna Heiland. McCoy read the message slowly and then his eyes scanned to the top of the message.

To… ALL.

There was nothing to say, there really was no words. Lorna Heiland had sent a message to the entire crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise stating thusly 'Alright Doctor Sexypants?! Sat here bored out of my mind! Just thought I'd let you know. Bye X'

"Yep," said McCoy. "That seems about right."

 **The End**


	10. Chapter 10

"They were being watched, for how long they did not know, but as they made their way through the tall grass they knew eyes were watching them. Waiting for the right moment to…"

"Doc!" Lorna jumped in fright and stopped walking; turning to Kirk she saw that he was looking at her dumbfounded.

"Yes Captain?" she asked, confused by the man's apparent discomfort.

"Will you quit it?! You're scaring the crap out of me!" he pleaded, Lorna blushed and looked to the ground embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Sir." They continued on their way, Kirk not quite believing that one woman could be scared of so many different inanimate objects. When, for no apparent reason she let out another yelp Kirk stopped again in frustration.

"Doc! What is wrong?!" he asked.

"It's nothing Captain, I saw a piece of grass in my peripheral vision and thought it was…" she struggled for the right word.

"Thought it was…?" Kirk urged her on.

"A… poisonous piece of grass?" Wincing at her own words she smiled quickly and walked passed him, hoping he'd just follow and not comm the Enterprise, asking for her to be immediately transported back to the ship and sectioned. Kirk watched as she stumbled and tripped ahead of him and smiled.

"You know, Bones has been near on damnit cheery since you and he got together," he shouted after her.

"You think?" she threw back, watching her step.

"Oh absolutely! You're clearly good for him." he shouted towards her, watching his own step.

"And he's good for me too," she countered.

"You know they say opposites attract but boy are you two putting that old adage to the test." Lorna laughed.

"You know, Leonard is sillier than you know?" she widened her eyes comically as she spoke.

"Is he now?" Kirk was altogether fizzing with glee.

"You know, no offence Captain, but I don't think I should be telling you this?" Lorna wasn't sure but she felt like she was just fuelling Jim Kirk with ammunition to use against his friend.

"I could order you?" he threw out glibly.

"You could," she agreed.

"And what if I did?"

"I would have to disobey your order Sir." her arms flailed out as she nearly went over on her ankle.

"That's the correct answer Doc! That's the correct answer." the pair ended up walking side by side as they continued on their way.

"How long have you known one another?" Lorna asked Kirk, making small talk, they didn't have much further to go.

"You haven't talked about this?" he asked.

"He's told me you're good friends." she replied.

"Well, we met at the Academy, actually no, that's not quite right. We met on the shuttle on the way to the Academy." Kirk laughed at the memory. "He's wasn't in the best of shape."

"Why's that?" Lorna asked. "Oh, the Aviophobia?" she guessed.

"No, his Wife had just divorced him…" Kirk started.

"Wife?" Lorna interrupted, straight-faced and Kirk looked at her in horror.

"Oh crap," he spluttered. "You didn't know he had a Wife?" he asked grimacing. Lorna continued to look at him horrified until she cracked a smile.

"Of course I did! I'm just messing with you!" Kirk held his chest with his hands, not quite believing what had just happened.

"That was messed up Doc," he told her, staggered. "That's the kind of crap Bones would pull, I'm starting to wonder which one of you is worse?" he looked at her warily.

"It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario isn't it?!" Lorna agreed, raising her brows in wicked glee. "It was Leonard's idea by the way," she told him a minute later. "He told me to have some fun with you, said something about 'shooting fish in a bucket'?"

"A barrel," he corrected.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's a bucket." Lorna shook her head.

"I should have known, that sonofa…" Kirk couldn't stop shaking his head. "I'm going to get him back, just you watch and now I know the score with you Heiland you better watch yourself too! All's fair in love and war," he pointed his finger at her comically and Lorna couldn't help but laugh. She could see why the two men got along so well.

"I'm sorry Captain and duly noted, your face was a picture though."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," he waved his hand in front of her dismissively. "Traitor."

* * *

Whilst Kirk had been liaising with the town elders and organising the teams that had come down with supplies Heiland had been helping with the injured villagers who lived near the coast, the storm had taken out most of their infrastructure and power had been intermittent. Once initial contact had been made Heiland requested Vallo and Kostas to beam down to give her a hand, McCoy being the one to go to the main hospital in town. The three medical staff worked their little socks off in their makeshift medical tent to ensure that everybody was all right.

"Great work today, I couldn't have done it without you." Lorna smiled at both Nurse and Doctor. "Go on, get yourself back to the ship, just let Doctor McCoy know I'll be needing another batch of antibiotics for tomorrow."

"Will do Doc, you not coming back with us?" Vallo asked.

"No, I need to wrap a couple of things up first." Nodding Lorna turned to see that all was in order, spending an hour or two making sure all the patients were stable and all the supplies were ready for the next day she heaved a sigh of relief. Hobbling over to one of the empty beds she eased herself slowly down with an audible groan, every muscle in her body screaming at her as she did. She didn't even bother trying to stay awake, letting her eyes close instantly and feeling the warmth of sleep flood over her.

"I think I feel as tired as you look Doc," Kirk laughed, standing over her and taking in her crumpled uniform, messy hair and tired eyes. Peering up she gave Kirk an exhausted smile but she didn't move, she couldn't.

"Thanks for the pep talk Cap, I'm absolutely knackered." Kirk gingerly sat himself on the floor next to her, leaning against a medicine cabinet.

"Tell me about it," after a few minutes silence Lorna turned herself onto her side to look at Kirk who'd leant his head back and closed his eyes.

"How's Leonard?" she asked.

"Fine, fine. I checked in on him before I came here, he told me to tell you to stay out of trouble," Lorna smiled at the message.

"What would you rather do? Have your Birthday every day or never at all?" she asked.

"Well, seen as though my Father died on the day that I was born…?" Kirk answered plainly and Lorna audibly gulped. Wow! She sure as hell wasn't expecting that answer.

"So, I'm going to say 'never at all'?" she answered for him after a moment's silence and he nodded tiredly. "Thanks for making it uncomfortable by the way!" she said sarcastically a second later and Kirk couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, sorry, my bad. Did I bum you out?" he asked jokingly.

"Just a tad, try and keep it light will you? I mean, really…?!" Rolling her eyes at him Kirk gave her a friendly wink.

"Do I get a year older every day or do I never age?" he asked.

"No, you age normally," she answered.

"Do I get cake?" he asked further.

"What kind of business do you think I'm running here Sir?! Of course you get cake," Kirk nodded enthusiastically.

"I do like cake," he pondered.

"That's because you're not a monster," she told him seriously.

"Then fine, Birthday every day," he answered.

"Who do you dislike the most on the ship?" Lorna asked him.

"You can't ask me that!" he lazily turned his head towards her and watched as she did one of the biggest yawns he'd ever seen.

"Sure I can, just did, and oh look, here it comes again. Who do you dislike the most on the ship?" Kirk looked at her shocked.

"There isn't anyone!" he answered, not so convincingly.

"Of course there is, you can't like everybody. There are plenty of people I don't like," she told him.

"Like who?!" Kirk asked shocked, he would have thought a woman like Lorna Heiland would like everybody.

"That guy in Security, the tall one who always says 'We have to stop meeting like this, people will talk!' when you get into a turbolift with him." Lorna made a sick face.

"Oh God I hate that guy!" Kirk agreed.

"See!" Lorna laughed.

"I thought you were nice?!" he told her shocked.

"Yeah well, it's all an act," Lorna answered conspiratorially. "Come on, tell Doctor Heiland," she encouraged and Kirk actually found himself thinking about whom he disliked the most on the ship.

"No! No, I'm not answering that Heiland!" he shook his head at her.

"Fine, be like that. I know who doesn't like you," she muttered as she purposely yawned and closed her eyes.

"Who?!" he couldn't help but ask.

"Connor," she told him.

"Connor?!" Kirk sat himself up and looked at her aghast. "Gary Connor? That sonofabitch! I play squash with that guy!" Lorna shrugged her shoulders.

"He does an impression of you," she told him.

"What?!" Kirk shouted. Lorna shushed him and then, sitting up, positioned herself as if she was sat in the Captain's chair on the Enterprise.

"Sulu!" arching her eyebrow and putting on a smarmy face, she purposely over enunciated her words. "Maximum warp!" she finished the impression by giving Kirk a flirty wink.

"I do not sound like that," he argued. "And I do certainly not wink!" Kirk was dumbfounded. "He really does an impression of me?" he asked incredulously.

"No," Lorna lay back down.

"Wait what?" Kirk was confused.

"He doesn't do an impression of you, I made the whole thing up." Closing her eyes Lorna pulled a blanket up and over herself. "Fish in a bucket," she muttered.

"Barrel!" Kirk shot back. "You're exhausting you know that Doc?" he was impressed though.

"I may be double bluffing you Captain?" she mumbled into her pillow.

"Are you double bluffing me?" Kirk asked amused.

"No."

"What?!"

"Good night Captain, see you in the morning. Tell Leonard everything's A-Okay" Kirk creased his brow at her and pulled himself up.

"You're really strange you know that?" she was already asleep.

* * *

Dumping her bag on the floor in her quarters Lorna groaned and peeled out of her grubby uniform. She'd seen Leonard on the shuttle back to the ship, each one telling the other how their days had gone and what they'd encountered. With them both being so tired and being on shift again soon they agreed to go their separate ways, a bit of R&R needed by both parties. Taking a shower she couldn't even be bothered to dry her hair before putting on her bed clothes and tucking herself into bed. By the time seven hours had gone by and her alarm had woken her up Lorna had started to feel a little like herself again. Hungry and thirsty she went to her kitchen.

'Doctor Heiland, medical emergency. Please report to the medical bay.' Hearing the communication Lorna changed direction and went straight for her door, quickly making her way barefooted and braless to the med bay. When the main door to medical opened she stopped in her tracks, there was nobody there? Creasing her brow in confusion she hesitated to step forward, alarm bells going off in her head.

"Hello?" she called out, taking a tentative step forward.

"SURPRISE!" the entire medical crew jumped out from varying locations, including McCoy and Kirk, to which Lorna reacted in a way that can only be likened to one of those fainting goats on Earth?! Instead she didn't faint, she just squeezed her eyes shut and stood very very still. McCoy made his way over to her and tentatively touched her shoulder.

"Darlin'?" opening her eyes slowly Lorna looked up at him. "Happy Birthday," he whispered to her.

"Leonard?" she rasped out, her heart still pounding but before she could say anything else she was surrounded by her friends and colleagues bestowing upon her many felicitations along with kisses and hugs. When Vallo patted her head and laughed Lorna brought her own hand up and cringed when she felt her hair sticking out on end. Wet, short hair and bed were not a good mix!

"Looking good Doc!" Kirk appeared sporting a huge grin and Lorna knew immediately he was the one behind the whole thing. "Happy Birthday!" giving her a hug he turned to the crowd of Nurses and Doctors and announced that there was cake for everybody. Cheers and applause rounded out and Lorna couldn't help but smile, it really was a very nice thing for everybody to do for her. After a few drinks, dances and plenty of pieces of cake Lorna spotted Vallo walking towards her.

"Hey Lorna! You ready?" Vallo shouted out to her.

"Ready for what?" Lorna asked looking bewildered.

"A little birdy told us you do a great rendition!" Vallo shoved a microphone in her hand and then tapped away on a computer console. Lorna gave McCoy a confused look but he just shrugged his shoulders at her. He had no idea what was going on!

And then the music started.

And Lorna closed her eyes in despair.

Turning and staring daggers at Kostas the Doctor just shrugged their shoulders and then bringing their hands to their mouth shouted.

"You don't remember this at the Chief Admiral's Christmas party?" Kirk couldn't believe his ears.

"You're telling me she sang this at Rauch's Christmas party?" he asked flabbergasted and Kostas nodded slowly, enjoying the look of horror appear on the Captain's face. "How did that go down?" he enquired cringing at the potential fallout.

"Surprisingly well."

"Come on Heiland!" Vallo shouted, interrupting the pair. Lorna looked around, seeing all the expectant faces watching her and slowly brought the mic up to her lips.

"Yo back up now and give a brother room…" she shouted into the mic and Vallo and Kostas shouted and clapped in response.

McCoy's jaw dropped.

"The fuse is lit and I'm about to go boom!" as Lorna continued Kirk came to stand beside McCoy.

"Have you ever seen her…?" he started to ask.

"No, never Jim," McCoy laughed not being able to take his eyes off of her.

"Mercy mercy mercy me, my life is a cage but on stage I'm free! Hyped up, psyched up, ready for wil'in'…" at some point she'd climbed up on one of the beds as if it was a stage, the music blasting out and everybody jumping up and down. "I came here tonight to hear the crowd go…"

"Boom! shake-shake-shake the room Boom!…" the entire bay jumped up and down in unison, shouting the chorus along with Lorna, it was the best Birthday she'd ever had.

* * *

"You're drunk." McCoy laughed as he helped Lorna back to her quarters.

"You're beautiful," she slurred back.

"You enjoy your Birthday?" he just wanted her to stay awake long enough to get her in to bed.

"It was the best Birthday I've ever had, even better than my thirteenth when Timmy Hick came to my party." Lorna's eyes glazed over at the memory. Lorna was a very happy but emotional drunk. "I think you're going the wrong way?" she tried to focus on the corridor in front of her.

"We're not going the wrong way Darlin'." McCoy comforted her, practically carrying her along the way.

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure," he answered, finally making it to her quarters he propped her up against the wall as the door opened. Pulling her in he had to physically restrain her from just collapsing on her couch, all but fire-lifting her over his shoulder and taking her to the bedroom.

"You know when Liesl jumps from one bench to the other?" she asked him as he sat her down and pulled back the covers. "I always wanted to do that." McCoy had no idea what she was talking about. "Did you ever want to do that Leonard?" when she looked up at him, with eyes half closed and cake icing on her cheek, well, that's when McCoy knew he loved the woman sat in front of him.

"Do what Darlin'?" he asked.

"Skip from bench to bench like Liesl von Trapp?" she asked, slowly falling to sleep still sat up.

"Sure," that seemed to be the right answer, because as he lowered her head onto the pillow she smiled contently and hummed.

"You're my best friend," she whispered without really knowing what she was saying.

"You're my best friend too Lorna." McCoy whispered back, knowing she wasn't going to remember any of their conversation in the morning. Stroking her cheek with his thumb and kissing the top of her head McCoy turned off the light.

* * *

Lorna Heiland lay on one of the medical beds located furthest away from the main entrance. Staring up at the ceiling her hands went delicately to the hem of her blue tunic skirt, ensuring her modesty was intact. Brushing down the fabric she let her hands come to rest on her stomach, each finger intertwining with the other. Feeling a slight rumble she regretted skipping dinner, the decision to nap instead of eat before her shift now appearing to be short-sighted. She concentrated on her breathing, in and out, in and out. The bay was so quiet she could hear one of her nostrils whistling as she inhaled, sniffing to combat the unintentional melody she was creating Lorna looked to her right, toward the large doorway.

Still no one.

Replicating a cup of tea Lorna stood and looked around the bay, she'd already tidied everything away including the store cupboard and blankets. McCoy had removed all the stools on wheels from the medical bay so that fun pastime was a distant memory! The old tried and tested 'Throwing stuff in a bowl' was still pretty fun. Overarm, underarm, from far away, up close. Still pretty exciting stuff!

She definitely wasn't doing any exercise.

She tried holding her breath but that just scared her so she found herself sat on the end of a bed again, swinging her legs and staring into the space in front of her.

"There is a willow grows aslant a brook, that shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. There with fantastic garlands did she come, of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them."

Lorna jumped down and stood straight, peering off into the distance and imagining she was treading the boards of the Globe Theatre.

"There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds, clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, when down her weedy trophies and herself fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide and, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up; which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes, as one incapable of her own distress, or like a creature native and indued unto that element; but long it could not be till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death."

It was a lot harder than Lorna thought to click her heels together in the air as she skipped down the bay!

And the idea of knitting a scarf from scratch was a lot more enticing than the reality. Scarf quickly turned into…a coaster?

"You're fine, you can do this. You never know, you might get a patient?! A dislocated shoulder? Open fracture? Something juicy! There's not long left now, a couple more hours and then you can go, get into bed and make a pillow fort." She noticed that some messages had come through on the main console so she decided to clear through them and assign any appointments where necessary. It was usually one of the Nurses that did it in the morning but Lorna wasn't above doing any task or chore required. "Oh and I need to shave my legs!" she remembered as she sifted through the messages.

Hearing the main bay door open Lorna beamed when she saw McCoy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked bemused as he came to a stop in front of the desk.

"Wanted to make sure you hadn't got yourself into any trouble." he smirked.

"Moi?" she answered, pretending to look offended and shaking her head at him in disappointment. "I honestly don't know why you would think such a thing?"

"You don't?" McCoy asked, playing along. Lorna sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Nope," she said succinctly but the whole performance was shattered by the fact that she leant back too far on her chair and when she nearly toppled over, her legs and arms flailing out. Well, she couldn't really argue with the man now could she? McCoy walked round the desk and hooked his arm under hers.

"Come on, I'm taking you back to your quarters, who knows what kind of mischief you could get yourself into on the way?!" hoiking her up Lorna laughed as he gave the Nurse and Doctor walking in a curt nod.

"You're escorting me back to my quarters?" Lorna asked as the pair walked down the corridor.

"I'm accompanying you." McCoy corrected her, widening his eyes comically.

"Oh is that what this is?" they chatted about her shift, what they had on in the coming days and as they both entered her quarters Lorna neglected to notice McCoy wringing his hands together. "What time you on?" she shouted as she walked to her bedroom to get changed.

"Fourteen hundred." she heard him answer from the living room. Pulling her top over her head she ran her hands through her hair and stretched her arms above her head.

"I'll be seeing you later then, I need to come in and…" Lorna stopped talking as she walked back into the living room when she saw that McCoy was knelt on one knee. She looked into his eyes. He wasn't? Was he? "What are you doing Leonard?" she rasped out.

"Lorna Heiland." McCoy started. He was.

"Fuck off!" it just came out! She didn't mean to say it! It just popped out! It was said in surprise, it wasn't a request, it was a exclamation of absolute shock. McCoy barked with laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I said that, I don't know why I said that?!" Lorna covered her face with her hands and laughed nervously. Composing herself she closed the gap between them. "Please, continue," she asked politely.

"You sure?" McCoy asked still amused.

"I'm sure," nodding her head Lorna watched McCoy pull a ring box from his pocket and slowly opening it to reveal the ring nestled there, took her hand.

"Lorna Heiland, will you marry me?" he asked, no hint of nervousness in his voice, he'd never been more sure of anything in his life.

"Yes."

"Yes?" standing up McCoy clasped their hands together tightly, around the ring box and never wanting to let go.

"You got hearing problems Mister?" Lorna laughed, putting on her 1930's private eye accent.

"Is this alright?" he was referring to the way in which he was proposing to her, quietly and in her quarters. He'd thought about it a lot, I mean a lot a lot!

"It's perfect," It was.

"I love you," he really did.

"I love you too," she really did.

 **The End**


	11. Chapter 11

A few weeks later and Lorna found herself stood to one side, watching the small gathering of dignitaries intermingle with the crew of the Enterprise. She tried to stop her legs from itching by ever so slightly swaying from side to side and holding onto her drink tightly. Spotting the buffet on the other side of the room she quickly made a beeline for the fare, her stomach rumbling as she walked. Nobody else was really eating but that didn't stop her from grabbing a plate and slowly but surely selecting an assortment of the small little Canapes and Vol-au-vents that were on offer. One of them she couldn't quite decipher; it looked like cheese? It may have been fish? Popping the little morsel into her mouth Lorna instantly regretted it, she could only liken it to eating an entire refuse plant. Not knowing what to do she gulped down her entire drink, wincing and waving her hands in front of her now watering eyes. Peering over her shoulder to make sure nobody had noticed her freaking out she took a couple of deep breaths and moved on down, perhaps she would be safe with the desserts?

Triple chocolate molten pudding?! Lorna couldn't believe her luck, her eyes scanned for cutlery and when she couldn't find any her focus returned to the delectable confectionary. There was only one thing for it, picking up the pudding Lorna popped the entire thing in her mouth.

"Doctor Heiland?" Oh no! Lorna froze, she had no room in her mouth to even start eating the thing. "Doctor Heiland?" the voice rang out again. Turning slowly Lorna took in the expectant faces of Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy and one of the visiting dignitaries. She smiled a closed mouth smile, her eyes flitting quickly to McCoy in a silent cry for help.

"Umhum?" she mumbled, still plastering on the creepy closed mouth smile.

"Doctor Heiland here is one of our most experienced medical Doctors, you worked for Starfleet Medical whilst at the Academy didn't you?" Kirk asked her.

"Umhum," nodding her head in agreement she considered just running from the room, McCoy was looking at her strangely now, he definitely knew something was wrong.

"Pleasure to meet you Doctor," the nice old visiting man said to her, extending his hand for her to shake. Lorna looked to his hand in horror, peering at her own, one holding a glass and the other a mountain of crudité, she messily tucked the glass under the her arm quickly and balanced the plate on her forearm. As she shook the man's hand a bit too vigorously she widened her creepy closed mouth smile to the point where her jaw began to hurt.

"Ummmm!" she said by way of a greeting, Kirk by this point knew something was definitely amiss and Lorna felt like the melted chocolate pudding in her mouth was about dribble out of the corners of her gob.

"Well? Let me introduce you to our Chief Engineer." Kirk hurried away with the man, giving Lorna a peculiar look as he went. McCoy stood still, staring at Lorna. She just groaned and rolled her eyes in despair and embarrassment, he was definitely going to rescind his offer of marriage!

"Mouthful of pudding?" he asked. How the hell did he know that? Lorna bobbed her head slowly in confirmation. "Only you," and off he went.

* * *

Five months after that and Lorna found herself wishing she'd eaten some breakfast.

"You look smokin' Doc!" Vallo wolf whistled as she waved her hand in front of her face, pretending to be hot under the collar.

"Thanks Vallo!" Lorna blushed whilst pulling at her dress uniform with her hands.

"No seriously! Doctor McCoy is a lucky man, punching well above his weight. You sure you want to do this?" the young Nurse leant towards her wisely.

"Okay Vallo, you went too far. You took a nice thing and went too far," shaking her head Lorna told the woman to go sit down.

"Just give me a signal if you want me to object okay? Anything, I'm ready. I'll tell you what, if I see you blink three times I'll know…"

"Vallo, quit it! I don't want out!"

"Three blinks, got ya!" Vallo stuck her thumb up at Lorna as she left.

"No Vallo!" Lorna shouted after her, now worried about blinking at all throughout the entire ceremony.

"You ready?" turning to Kostas Lorna smiled and nodded her head. "Not too late," Kostas added.

"Why does everybody keep saying that?"

"To mess with your head? I don't know?" Kostas shrugged but the little squeeze of her arm that they gave her meant Lorna knew her friend was just playing. She wouldn't have expected anything less!

The ceremony was small, just enough people to act as witnesses, close friends and of course Kirk who was officiating the wedding. McCoy and Heiland hadn't had a choice on that particular topic. When McCoy had told the Captain that they were to elope, well, it didn't go down well. Lorna thought back to the evening when McCoy returned to their quarters after speaking with his friend, 'Yeah, no, we're getting hitched on the ship,' was all he said. Not that she was fussed, they could have got married on the moon for all she cared. For all either of them cared. It was considered old fashioned, what they were doing, but they were an old fashioned kind of couple.

Kostas taking her arm and turning them towards the door snapped Lorna out of her memories and upon seeing the door open and McCoy stood waiting, her heart wanted to burst out of her chest.

McCoy looked at Lorna, all radiance and serenity and everything beautiful. All his anxiety disappeared in a puff of smoke when he watched her mouth one word, seemingly unintentionally. And with that one word being very explicit and beginning with an 'F' it made him realise she felt the same as he did and the fact that they were in it together, against the universe, he knew he'd never wanted anything more in his life.

The small walk down the ' _aisle_ ' went without a hitch, surprisingly, they both laughed when McCoy realised what the song was that was playing, the one Lorna had picked. On one of their first dates together a song had played randomly in the rec room whilst they were having dinner, he had told her that without a doubt, it was the worst song he had ever heard and if he were to have omnipotent powers his first port of call would be to eradicate the song from the annals of time. As Lorna came to stand beside him he shook his head slowly and whispered to her.

"I can't believe you picked this song," he said and she looked at him mischievously.

"I thought you loved this song?"

"You know that not to be the case though don't you Darlin'?" he inclined his head towards her as he spoke.

"Is this how our marriage is going to be? Always arguing?" she teased.

"Oh I do hope so…" they were both interrupted when Kirk cleared his throat.

"Err, do you want me to start?" he asked the pair.

"Don't see why not?" Lorna answered.

"Being the Captain of a ship is a momentous responsibility…" Kirk began, addressing the room and ignoring the fact that the couple in front of him both rolled their eyes. "But sometimes it also affords the joyous occasion of being able to bring together two people, two friends, in matrimony. I wondered if I would ever see my friend, Leonard H. McCoy married again…"

"Jim!" the pure threat with which McCoy quietly ground out his name was enough for Kirk to know to shut his mouth.

"I believe you have prepared your own vows?" Kirk asked meekly and Lorna cleared her throat.

"Leonard, I promise to you to be there when you need me, to fill your days with sunshine, to comfort you and encourage you, to help you reach your goals, to be your best friend ever and to love you all my life with all my heart. Because of you, I laugh, I smile, and I dare to dream. I look forward with great joy to spending the rest of my life with you, caring for you, nurturing you, being there for you in all life has for us, and I vow to be true and faithful for as long as we both shall live."

"Wow." Kirk couldn't help but exclaim.

"Pretty good huh?" she whispered to him and then gave McCoy a wink.

"I, Leonard McCoy, take you, Lorna Heiland, to be my companion, already loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. We will grow old together, laugh together, cry together and when I think about falling in love with you a little more every day, well, I can't wait. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us." he could see her eyes glisten, with love and pride, and he'd never felt so whole.

"Alright, you win." she whispered to him as she tried to hold back the tears and pulling herself up, clutching his shoulders with her hands, they kissed.

"I haven't got to that part…" Kirk bobbed between the pair but then with a heavy sigh said. "Fine, whatever, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." The small gathering of people, Vallo, Rakam and Kostas, Uhura and Spock all applauded while Scotty blew his nose so loud it broke McCoy and Lorna apart to see what was going on.

"Ech! I canny help it, it's a beautiful thing!" the blubbering Scotsman shook his head.

"Congratulations!" very gallantly Kirk gave Lorna a kiss on the cheek and when McCoy held his hand out towards his friend for him to shake Kirk laughed and pulled him into a great big old bear hug. "I love you Bones!"

"Where's the party?" Uhura asked, coming up to them and wishing them both health and happiness.

"No party," McCoy answered sternly.

"No party?" Uhura asked, turning to Lorna aghast.

"No party," Lorna repeated, shrugging her shoulders.

"No?!" Kirk looked positively distraught.

"No," McCoy repeated firmly, taking Lorna's hand the couple began walking out of the room but when the angry mob behind began heckling them he held up his hand. "Damnit, I'm a Doctor not a Babysitter, go and play in somebody else's yard!" and with that they were gone.

* * *

Drawing a figure of eight in the sand with her finger Lorna watched the salt from the sea water crystallise on her skin, making her glisten in the sun. Her head rested on McCoy's chest, the pair making a 'T' shape with their lounging bodies. They hadn't moved for hours, enjoying the sun, the sound of the waves rushing up the coarse sand and the light breeze scented with the tropical flowers that reminded Lorna of Earth's Bird of Paradise. She could still feel all the sand in her swimsuit from earlier in the day when she'd dug a hole and buried herself in it. She'd asked to do the same to McCoy but he'd refused, he did let her play with his hair for a solid half hour whilst he'd sunbathed though. Lorna was pretty sure that he'd actually fallen asleep, what with the light snoring and all.

The cocktails had gone down very nicely and Lorna had managed to keep a nice little buzz going all day, dragging herself up she sluggishly and ungainly lay herself over McCoy's midriff, letting all her weight fall on him.

"What the hell Lorna?" McCoy asked, peering down at her and struggling to breathe.

"I'm bored," she answered.

"No you're not," he answered, placing his hands under her arms and heaving her up and next to him, she didn't make it easy though, letting herself go limp and lifeless.

"How do you know?" she whinged.

"Because I've seen you bored, and this isn't bored, it's relaxed. You're relaxed," he told her as he played with the bow at the back of her neck holding her bikini top up.

"I am relaxed," she agreed.

"Do you want to go back to the house?" he asked her, noting the sun was lower than he'd expected, the time had just flown by.

"Not quite yet, do you want to build a sandcastle?" he shook his head, "Let's just have a walk down the beach then." Grabbing their towels and bag the pair padded down the coastline. "I don't want to go back," Lorna finally uttered as McCoy stopped and wrapped his arms around her from behind, the pair watching the sunset.

"Ever?" he asked.

"Ever," she repeated.

"What would we do?" Lorna turned so that they were facing one another, they'd both caught the sun and as Lorna traced the white creases around McCoy's eyes he let the back of his hand trace up and down her spine.

"Fight crime? Rob banks?" she suggested.

"They're very different things Darlin'," McCoy laughed at her.

"I'm not picky," was her answer, "As long as I'm with you." The pair turned back on themselves and started making their way back to the house they were staying in for the couple of days they'd managed to get away from the Enterprise. As they made their way up the steps that led from the beach to the house McCoy held on to Lorna's backside.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm helping you up," McCoy answered plainly.

"Uhuh, thanks." Lorna laughed when he gave her a squeeze.

"Don't mention it," holding the door open for her McCoy closed it behind him and closed his eyes in response to the cool air. "Right, I'll do drinks you do bath," He instructed.

"Yes Sir," Lorna didn't need to be told twice. Walking into the bathroom she turned the taps next to the bathtub and watched as the clear, sparkling blue water began to fill the copper coloured tub. She looked to the salts and soaps that sat nearby but decided against them, her skin was quite sensitive and after all the sun they'd both caught that day the thought of anything that could maybe sting made her suck at her teeth.

The amount of sand that emptied out of her swimsuit was ridiculous!

The speaker system in the house started playing old Earth, American Country music and Lorna barked with laughter, turning the taps off she left the bathroom and went to the kitchen in search of McCoy, all the while the soft dulcet tones of a Cowboy rang in her ears.

 _'I see the sparkling little diamond on your hand, It's plain to see that you've already got a man, I can tell you're not about to fall for any of my lines, I see the want to in your eyes.'_

"Who is this singing?" she asked as she appeared by his side in the kitchen. McCoy, taking his eyes off the two cocktails he was creating was distracted for a moment by the fact that Lorna was simply stood there in her birthday suit.

"Huh?" Lorna smiled that smile only women are capable of when they know their effect upon somebody else.

"I asked who is singing?" she repeated herself.

"Oh this? This is the High Priest of Country music Darlin'" McCoy's accent thickened and handing her a glass, McCoy's other arm wrapped around her waist as they both took a sip. "Good?"

"Good," she agreed.

"Bath?" he asked.

"Bath," she agreed.

* * *

"So? How was it?" Vallo dipped towards Lorna as she filled out her reports.

"It was lovely." Lorna answered, not taking her eyes away from the PADD in front of her.

"Oh come on! I want all the juicy details!" the young women sulked and Lorna took pity on her.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Lorna saw Vallo's eyes glitter with excitement. "It was a good job Doctor McCoy brought his medical kit, I ended up standing on some kind of sea urchin on our first day and if it hadn't of been for Leonard I probably would have lost my foot!" Vallo wasn't impressed. Tutting and telling her she was no fun the Nurse left her to her own devices, night shift for Lorna Heiland was here again!

Looking at her reflection for some time, Lorna wondered if she should grow her fringe out. Or bangs as Vallo called them which didn't even make sense! Why are they bangs? Pushing her hair up and out of the way of her forehead she turned from side to side, was she too old for a fringe? Did she have a big forehead? No that wasn't it, she just wasn't used to seeing it. She'd pretty much had the same style since she'd been at university.

"If it ain't broke," she mumbled to herself. Picking up her personal PADD she saw that she'd received another message from her Brother, quickly clicking on the link Lorna smiled to herself in anticipation.

 **'Dear Humpty, so since our last conversation just before you were getting hitched to a man I've never met we were talking about my latest collection? Well, guess who flogged the entire lot to the new council building being built? This guy! All joking aside though it'll be good to see it go to good rather use than just sitting in my warehouse.'**

Lorna grinned, William Heiland had been an artist since the moment he'd been born. He'd taught her to draw, paint and sculpt and ever since she could remember he'd shown her to see the beauty in all things. He was also an older Brother which meant he'd persistently tormented her their entire lives. She told him everything and when she'd sent the message telling him that she was getting married a one word reply was pinged back almost instantaneously. She couldn't repeat that one word.

 **'So, I guess I should ask how it all went? I take it he went through with it? I bet you looked like a right dog's dinner! Mum's still bristling about not being there, I don't think she quite understands the concept of deep space? I tried to explain that if you waited until you were back you'd be way too old and don't have that much time left anyway but she took it the wrong way, thought I was hiding something from her about your health and well, let's just say that turned into a can of worms the less talked about the better! Rebecca and Josh want to see pictures, they think silly Aunt Lorna getting married is hilarious. Right well, I better be off. All joking aside, I know you're happy so we're all happy, we miss you and stay safe. Don't accidently walk out of an escape hatch or anything like that, seriously, why did anybody think it was a good idea to allow you to work in space?! Love ya Sis X.'**

Lorna defied anybody not to cry after reading a message like that. Sat at her desk and sniffling she wiped her eyes and took some deep breaths to try and calm down. Blowing her nose she swore when she saw that she was having a nose bleed, quickly pinching the bridge and throwing her head back she sat for a minute thinking. Needing to get one of the dermal regenerators Lorna tentatively stood up, all the while holding her nose and looking up at the ceiling. Shuffling her feet along the floor she gave her desk a wide berth and went in the general direction of one of the medical cupboards. Maybe thinking that it had stopped Lorna let her head back down and released the hold she had on her own nose but when blood poured out and down her tunic she very quickly resumed her previous position.

"For goodness sake!" she cried out, banging her hip on one of the beds as she carried on her way. Blindly searching for a dermal regenerator Lorna's hand finally rested upon what she was after, sitting herself on one of the beds she got to work on her nose, stemming the blood flow. "You can't even sneeze without it becoming something ridiculous!" she chastised herself. The bleeding had come to a stop but now she had the problem of blood on her shirt, she didn't want to worry McCoy unnecessarily. Changing into scrubs was a sure fire way of getting him worried so that was out. She thought about just rushing into their quarters and getting changed but that was completely against character for her and the rule was if either of them came in form work and the other was there they would sit down and chat straight away. Rolling her eyes she racked her brain for another idea.

"Aha!" Eureka, she had an idea. Making her way over to the replicator in the break out area she stood and pondered. "Computer, one glass of blackcurrant juice." Seeing the dark red liquid appear in front of her Lorna felt super sneaky. Taking the glass and holding it in front of her she hesitated a moment, she'd only had a nose bleed, did she really need to hide that from McCoy?

"Of course not!" she answered out loud, he'd never given her a reason to hide anything and up until this point she'd been nothing but honest. That's what made it work.

* * *

McCoy had forgotten to tell Lorna about his change in shift, besides it gave him an excuse to go see her. He hadn't been able to sleep anyway, finding it more and more difficult to settle when she wasn't next to him (taking all the covers). As he walked towards the medical bay he found he was ever so slightly smiling at the corners of his mouth just at the thought of seeing her.

What happened next took him a while to process, I'm not talking minutes or hours, days later he would turn to Lorna and just stare at her wondering how in the hell him opening the door to the medical bay and her stood there with a glass of blackcurrant juice resulted in said 'door opening' scaring the life out of said Lorna, her jumping into the air and juice spilling down her front.

"Lorna!" McCoy cringed as he watched the stain inducing fruit juice pour down her front and the scream that erupted from his Wife made him think she'd been shot.

"For the love of god and all that is holy Leonard what the hell do you think you're doing you scared the life out of me why would you do that Leonard?" she only came up for air when the cold juice plastered her uniform against her skin and gave her goosebumps.

"I walked into the room goddamnit, I hardly snuck up on you!" Leonard grabbed a cloth and stood in front of Lorna trying to dab at the stain. Lorna took the cloth from his hands and started wiping at her front messily. "Hey, Darlin', what's wrong?" McCoy asked, knowing her well enough to know something was wrong. The fact that her eyes were red clearly from crying, she'd obviously had a nose bleed and she'd topped it off with spilling blackcurrant down herself!

"I had a nose bleed," she mumbled.

"You did?" he tried not to laugh, Lorna nodded silently.

"William sent me a message and I cried and then I blew my nose but that made me have a nose bleed and then I was worried you'd be worried…"

"Why would I be worried?" he interrupted.

"Because I'd had a nose bleed." Lorna creased her brow in confusion, not understanding why he wasn't getting all this?

"I see," he didn't see.

"So I thought I'd pour something darker on the blood stain but then I thought 'No, you don't keep things from one another!' and then you came in and scared me." Huffing out a long breath Lorna let her head fall onto McCoy's chest. "I don't even know how this could happen to anybody?" McCoy's hands came up and wrapped around her, kissing the top of her head he whispered his love for her as they stood still.

"Go and get changed, I'll hold the fort." Lorna looked up at him and shook her head.

"You are the best person in the world, I really don't deserve you. Well, sometimes I do but most of the time I don't." McCoy laughed again and told her to get on with it.

"Love you Darlin'." He called after her.

"Love you Love." Lorna answered, narrowly missing walking into the doorframe.

"Lorna!"

"I'm okay!"

 **The End**


	12. Chapter 12

"Lorna?" said McCoy the following day, coming to stand by her side in the med bay he watched her as she made herself a cup of tea.

"What?" she asked, not looking up.

"Why have you been speaking with a French accent all day?" he watched her look up at him with a confused look on her face.

"I have?" he just nodded. "Hmm? Oh I know, I treated Lieutenant Schroth this morning." Lorna started back to her desk leaving McCoy rolling his eyes. Catching up to her he leant against the desk whilst she sat herself down.

"He's German." He informed her, flicking a stray piece of her hair back into place with his fingers. He did little things like that, throughout the day. He'd catch himself smoothing out her hair or wiping some crumbs from her tunic after lunch.

"Oh, well? Then I don't know?" Lorna answered, "You're sure?" he didn't know whether she was questioning the fact that she'd been speaking with a French accent all day or that Carl-Jürgen Schroth was German?

"Schroth?" McCoy repeated, hoping the penny would drop.

"Yeah, you're right." Shrugging her shoulders Lorna shooed him away with her hand, his initial question seemingly never to be answered. McCoy's comm badged buzzed as he walked towards his own office, telling him to go to the bridge. Stopping and turning back to Lorna he stifled a laugh, how anybody could miss their mouth and pour tea down their front was beyond him. "Doctor Heiland, I have to go to the bridge, you're in charge." He instructed her and with a jaunty salute and a wink of her eye Lorna bid him farewell.

* * *

"What is it Jim?" McCoy asked storming on to the bridge in his customary jovial style. Kirk didn't take his eyes away from the viewing screen, watching the current events unfold.

"The planet is going through a complete structural degeneration; they have twenty minutes before it collapses in on itself."

"They?" McCoy questioned, already dreading the answer.

"The sixteen Scientists that were sent there to study the planet." Kirk jumped from his chair and instructed his First Officer to take the conn.

"Where you going Jim?" McCoy asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm going to rescue those people Bones." Of course he was.

"How did I know you were going to say that?" With a long, weary exhale of breath Bones followed him into the transporter room.

* * *

"What an idiotic…" Lorna was busy prepping the sick bay for the possibility of receiving sixteen Scientists, and two very reckless members of the Enterprise crew. "Stupid sod…" the Nurses had all been assigned their duties and extra medical equipment was being brought in. "When I get my hands on him…" Lorna wasn't happy, he'd just left, he hadn't said anything! Just left! "Rakam!" she shouted, "Get those beds ready now." Turning back to her PADD she tried to concentrate on the words in front of her, it was no use though. All she could think about was the fact that her Husband was on a dying planet.

"He'll be fine." Looking up at Kostas Lorna gave them a tight smile.

"I know he will," she agreed. She didn't know though, did she?

"Then get your head out of your ass." Watching Kostas go back to work Lorna shook her head to clear her thoughts, Kostas was right of course.

"Right, come on then," and with that she got to work.

* * *

"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead," Lorna mumbled to herself as she watched the Engineer prepare to beam the first batch of Scientists up from the planet. Seeing the faces of the first six Scientists appear threw Lorna into 'work mode', she was no longer seeking out McCoy's face, rather assessing and triaging her patients.

"Kostas! Get these people moving sharpish," she instructed as she noted that apart from a few scrapes and bruises the men and women they were shuffling out looked alright. The second batch of Scientists appeared and Lorna couldn't help but think that the next transport would, should include Kirk and McCoy. "Vallo, off you pop," she said by way of instruction. Her eyes landed back on the Engineer who was frantically working the station in front of him. "What is it?" she asked, intuitively knowing there was a problem.

"I'm struggling to get a lock," Lorna couldn't speak. The lights began swirling on the transporter pad and Lorna closed her eyes, holding her breath and not being able to think of anything at all. "I'm losing them!" the Engineer shouted.

"Don't you dare," the words came out in an anguished whisper. When Kirk's voice resonated in her ears Lorna dared to open her eyes and upon seeing McCoy's face, who was looking at her in a way that made her heart scream, she finally managed to breathe again. Lorna went to the Scientists and began escorting them to sick bay, she noticed McCoy follow but didn't say anything. Kirk disappeared in the other direction, presumably making his way to the bridge. As she stood in front of one of the Scientists and began administering to his injuries she again noticed McCoy hovering in her peripheral vision, she had seen that Vallo had tried to get him to sit on one of the beds but he'd batted her off.

"Hello, my names Doctor Heiland," moving on to her next patient she introduced herself to the woman who smiled at her relieved. "Let's get you patched up," Lorna noticed the woman shaking, obviously reeling from what she'd just been through. Tell me about it Lady! Lorna thought to herself. "You been up to anything recently?" she asked glibly and when the woman laughed tiredly she gave her arm a good squeeze and told her to rest up.

A hand took hers from behind, turning she saw that it was McCoy. He'd waited until she'd finished treating the Scientists. Looking around the med bay she made sure everything was in order and then silently nodded to him, letting him pull her to his office. She tackled him to the ground as soon as his door closed, his legs not strong enough and her catching him off guard making it easy for Lorna to get him to the ground. And then she just hugged the life out of him, I mean arms round neck to the point of suffocation hugging! And then she punched him in the arm as hard as she could.

"Ow!" holding on to his arm McCoy felt tears prickle his eyes. "Lorna?!" he rasped out, hugging her back.

"What were you thinking?!" she blubbed into his neck. "You're a Doctor not a…" she struggled for the right word, "Rescuer!" McCoy couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm fine Lorna, really." Pulling themselves up the pair sat on the floor, their hands grasped together and Lorna trying her hardest not to burst into tears.

"This isn't going to work." Lorna exclaimed shaking her head and McCoy's face fell.

"What? Lorna, what are you saying?" Now he was worried.

"You doing things, it's not going to work! You're no longer going to do anything," she informed him and McCoy sighed with relief. He'd been worried there for a moment.

"Anything? Darlin', what do you want me to do, stay in our quarters until we get back to Earth?" he asked, feeling incredibly proud that he had a Wife who loved him so much.

"Yes, that would be great. Do that." Lorna agreed, nodding her head and McCoy laughed.

"Darlin' come on! You know I can't do that…"

"Why can't you?" she interrupted him.

"Because I can't and you know it, our job can be dangerous, and besides, who was the one who came back from the last away mission with a concussion and broken leg from saving that young boy?" he asked.

"Don't know what you're talking about?" she said, flatly refuting his example of her doing something as equally dangerous (even if she had actually done it). Lorna pulled herself up as did McCoy. "I was scared to lose you Leonard," she told him honestly.

"I know," he whispered back.

"Just, be careful, that's all I ask."

"I will," he agreed, pulling her into a tight embrace and placing kisses on the top of her head. Stepping back Lorna took in his appearance and checked him over.

"Did you get yourself seen to?" she asked as they left his office.

"I did."

"Alright, well, off with you then, I'm sure the Captain wants you there while he regales the bridge crew with his tale of heroics." Lorna pulled a sickly face when she spoke and rolled her eyes. Giving her a wink McCoy set off but stopped and turned on his heel.

"Lorna?" he shouted out to her.

"What?" she looked at him with a creased brow.

"You did good too you know." McCoy had registered the fact that as soon as he had appeared Lorna had had everything in order, the triage teams, the med bay set up for a major incident. He had never doubted she could lead from the front.

"Piss off!" swatting his arm Lorna blushed with embarrassment, she didn't do well with compliments. McCoy didn't say anymore, he just gave her the look of 'you know you're good just take the compliment' and then left leaving Lorna feeling the fizz of relief, excitement and fear in her stomach.

* * *

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie, there's definitely something wrong." Vallo knew there was definitely something wrong.

"There's nothing wrong."

"Tell me."

"No!" Lorna wanted to scream, she just wanted to be left alone.

"You had a fight didn't you?" Vallo stood behind her as she hastily folded blankets, Lorna didn't answer. "I knew it!" Lorna spun on her heel and shushed the Nurse.

"Vallo, for the love of god and all that is holy will you drop it!" Vallo saw that Lorna had had enough, she could push it with the Doctor but only so far.

"Okay, sorry," she answered. "Please don't worry, you and Doctor McCoy are super cute. He can't be angry at you for long."

"Why is he angry at me?!" Lorna replied, "I haven't done anything wrong, I'm angry at him!" Vallo held her hands up in surrender and backed away slowly.

"Yeah, right. Well, gotta go, do something over here." Hitching her thumb Vallo made a quick retreat.

* * *

Lorna watched the stylus spin round and round on her desk, her head resting on her forearm the world appeared horizontal. Another night shift, another mind numbingly boring time for Lorna Heiland-McCoy. She could really do with a cupcake right about now! She popped her earbuds in and pressed play on her music, her fingers instantly tapping out the tune on her desk.

"You get up every morning from your alarm clock's warning, take the 8:15 into the city. There's a whistle up above and people pushin', people shovin' and the girls who try to look pretty." Sitting back Lorna began playing air guitar, of which she deemed herself a proficient. "And if your train's on time, you can get to work by nine and start your slaving job to get your pay. If you ever get annoyed, look at me I'm self-employed, I love to work at nothing all day!" Pushing her chair back it wasn't long before Lorna was on her feet, stomping round the medical bay and fully committing to the air guitar. Eyes closed and head rocking she continued on, rocking out and enjoying herself immensely. "And I'll be taking care of business EVERYDAY, Taking care of business EVERYWAY, I've been taking care of business IT'S ALL MINE! Taking care of business and working overtime, work out!" You know when the old rock stars use to play guitar? They'd jump in the air and land on their knees, skidding across the floor and leaning back as they killed some major guitar rift? Well, Lorna had always wanted to do that, so she did.

Suffice to say, it did not end well.

"Sonofa…!" Wow she really hurt her knees! I mean she went down hard! Stopping the music and all but throwing her earbuds out she stumbled to one of the beds, swearing all the way. Picking up a dermal regenerator she passed it over her two bruised and redden knees, wincing and feeling like an absolute prat. Tossing the medical equipment onto the nearby trolley, rolling her eyes when it just bounced off the side and onto the floor she let herself fall back and lie on the bed. Her legs swinging over the side Lorna let her mind drift, not thinking about anything was one of her favourite things to do.

"Medical Emergency! Doctor Heiland to Engineering." Lorna jumped up so fast she flung herself into the adjacent bed and then, trying to compensate, managed to thwack her forehead on the side of the bed. Letting out a pained howl Lorna messily picked herself up again, not having time to feel sorry for herself. Grabbing a med-kit she ran from the bay, heading for Engineering and trying not to throw up on her way.

* * *

Running into Engineering Lorna immediately caught sight of the commotion over by the warp core. Running over she made her way through the concerned crowd and knelt down beside the poor Ensign who looked like he'd seen better days.

"Hello there Ensign Fayyazi, what've you been up to?" She set about easing his pain, which she knew he'd be feeling pretty heftily given his injuries. Lorna noted the Lieutenant next to him, "What happened?" she asked him, still assessing Ensign Fayyazi's injuries.

"The console blew out, Mehdi was right in front of the thing." The Lieutenant answered, wiping his face in concerned anguish. "Hey, your heads bleeding?" he pointed to her with his finger, a confused look on his face but Lorna didn't have time to worry.

"Alright, nothing to be concerned over," Lorna smiled at the young man as she checked his vitals. "Are you at the start or end of your shift Ensign?" she asked, waving a dermal regenerator over his face and chest.

"Start," he answered, being glad of the distraction.

"There's easier ways of getting out of a shift Ensign, you could have just told Lieutenant George here you were getting a cold." The Ensign and his colleagues around him laughed, one or two of them joshing with Lorna about her giving them sick notes. "Right, do you think you can walk?" she asked, seeing that his vitals were returning to normal and giving him enough pain relief to know that he wouldn't be feeling any pain at all.

"Yeah, I think so." Helping him up Lorna took her time, holding Ensign Fayyazi by the elbow and making their way out.

"Thanks Doc!" she heard one of the Engineers shout.

"Anytime, get back to work!" As Lorna and Ensign Fayyazi slowly made their way back to the medical bay Lorna kept his mind occupied by asking 'Would you rather?' questions. By the time they got there and she had him settled on one of the beds and resting up she'd completely forgot about her own bump to the head until Fayyazi mentioned it to her.

The only mirror in the medical bay was in the toilet so making her way there (dermal regenerator in hand) Lorna squirmed up against the sink so that she could get a good luck at her head. Whoever had installed the mirror must have been at least a foot taller than her, lifting herself up on her tiptoes Lorna just about managed to wave the medical apparatus over her head. It had only been a scratch really, nothing to write home about.

When she came back out she noted Ensign Fayyazi was fast asleep so took her seat behind her desk. She sang to herself quietly, just letting herself calm down from the recent activity.

"When I take you out, tonight, with me, Honey, here's the way it's goin' to be, You will set behind a team of snow white horses, In the slickest gig you ever see!" She didn't notice the door open and Kirk walk in, she didn't notice him until he was stood in front of her desk and calling out her name.

"Captain Kirk!" Standing to attention Lorna found her heart was in her throat.

"At ease Doctor Heiland," he said laughing.

"Is everything alright?" A visit from Kirk was never a good thing in Lorna's eyes, he was either injured, stirring up trouble or collecting her Husband to take him on a risky, foolhardy mission. Eyeing him suspiciously she suspected him of the second.

"Yes, everything's fine. I'll get straight to the point Doctor Heiland, I want you to take the Bridge Officer's test." Lorna stared at him, that wasn't what she was expecting.

"Who put you up to this? Leonard? Captain Kirk please, don't get me involved in your shenanigans, that's between you and Leonard…" Lorna laughed and sat back in her chair.

"It's not a prank Doc, I'm being serious."

"Get the hell out of here?!" Lorna still didn't believe him.

"I can't!" Kirk laughed, "I'm being serious." Lorna continued to look at him as if he was nuts.

"Can I think about it?" she asked warily.

"Of course!" Kirk stood and smiled at her. "You're good Doc, I think you'd ace it." Kirk left leaving Lorna not quite sure what to think. She was good Doctor, she was in no doubt about that but she'd fudged her way through the expedited Officer training! It had never occurred to her that maybe she'd end up climbing the ranks in Starfleet?

* * *

"Well?" McCoy looked at Lorna anxiously as she made her way towards him from the assessment centre located in the heart of Starfleet Academy. She nodded her head slowly, pondering herself how she'd performed in the Bridge Officer's test.

"I think it went well," Lorna answered, enjoying the feeling of McCoy rubbing her arm reassuringly.

"When do you find out?" They started walking down the corridor, making their way through the throng of Instructors, Officers and Cadets.

"A day or two they said," Lorna answered, letting McCoy pull her one way or another to stop her from bumping into people. "Anyway, what will be will be, where are you taking me?"

"Taking you?" McCoy feigned ignorance.

"Leonard? Don't toy with me," she warned him as she stepped through the door he was holding open for her. "We have three days of leave, woe betide if we're not doing something!"

"And why is this my responsibility?" Lorna looked at him aghast.

"Because, dear Husband of mine, this is your responsibility."

"And that was decided when?" Lorna stopped walking and folded her arms across her chest. To anybody else walking by it looked like two senior officers having a very in depth conversation about something very important, not a couple winding each other up.

"When you married me," Lorna answered and McCoy couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't remember signing up for that?" he questioned.

"Oh! You signed up for the whole shebang my friend!" Hooking her arm through his they continued on their way until it was too much for Lorna to bear and she pleaded with him to tell her what they were doing.

"If you must know, I've got us a little place in the country. We're going to pick up supplies on the way and then we're going to sit on the porch with our homemade lemonade and watch the lightning bugs dance all night. How does that sound?" Lorna scrunched her lips to one side in thought.

"That sounds perfect."

 **The End**

* * *

 ** _I am so very happy that Lorna Heiland has struck such a chord with you! She's glitter in a bottle! Thank you for your heartfelt reviews which are so appreciated. LLAP ;-) XOXO_**


	13. Chapter 13

_**I had finished this but this last little nugget popped into my head! I'm done, promise! X**_

* * *

As they pulled up in front of the small farmhouse both Lorna and McCoy's jaws dropped, silently they got out and stood in the dirt. Neither of them spoke, they were too distracted by the ram shackled hut in front of them.

"Leonard?" Lorna managed to mumble, the pair started towards the porch that ran round the house, an old creaking swing disturbed the silence of the miles of farmland that surrounded them. As McCoy stepped up onto the porch his foot went clear through the rotten wood. "Leonard!" Lorna shouted out in shock.

"Damnit!" McCoy pulled his leg from the hole and shook it out. "I'm alright," he answered looking to Lorna with a mixture of anger and astonishment.

"Is this right?" she asked.

"We didn't go past anything else did we?" he was genuinely asking her and when Lorna shook her head in agreement McCoy nodded back. No, they hadn't missed any turn offs on the road. This had to be it.

"It might not be too bad inside?" Lorna offered up. For some reason McCoy didn't get the key from his pocket, kind of knowing that the door would already be unlocked, which it was because, as he opened the door and looked inside, there was nothing to steal anyway. Lorna went one way as McCoy went another, "If you don't hear from me after five minutes consider me dead and go on with your life without me," she told McCoy.

"Got it, will do," he answered with a mock salute. Both slowly made their way round the house in silence, the living room was empty apart from an old settee and coffee table, the dining room had garden furniture in it and as Lorna opened the door to the kitchen she let out a scream when some kind or vermin ran passed her and out the front door.

"Are you okay?!" McCoy shouted from the dining room.

"Yeah! It was just a…" she didn't know what it had been. Meeting back in the hallway Lorna stared at McCoy wordlessly.

"It didn't look like this in the pictures?" he stated despondently to which Lorna burst out laughing. "Do you want to head back?" he asked, laughing himself once he saw that Lorna couldn't have cared less.

"By the time we did get back it'd be late, no, come on. We can make this work." McCoy smiled, exceedingly grateful that Lorna was a glass half full type of gal.

"I'll get the stuff from the car," Lorna nodded and then looked around, well, she certainly wouldn't be forgetting this trip in a hurry!

* * *

Lorna had managed to find a sweeping brush and, after opening all the windows in the house had quickly gone around and at least tried to make the place somewhat presentable. McCoy had discovered there was no running water and no power, luckily for them he'd packed a couple of candles, they'd been intended for their 'romantic meal' but now it seemed they were going to be their only source of light. There was no bed in the bedroom, just an old mattress that Lorna was pretty certain someone had died on!

"I'm going to go see if there's any wood in the outhouse!" McCoy shouted up the stairs to Lorna, "I could build a fire when it goes dark!" Lorna was stood in the bathroom staring aghast at the toilet.

"Okay!" she shouted back not being able to avert her eyes from the horror that was presented in front of her. McCoy picked up on something not quite right in Lorna's tone but couldn't face knowing what the cause was so he made his way out the house, avoiding the cobwebs and broken floorboards. "Leonard!" Lorna shouted after him a second later, "Watch out for the hole…"

"GODDAMNIT!" Lorna cringed, knowing he'd forgotten about the broken step outside.

Pulling his foot from the step, again! McCoy walked over to the outhouse, pulling the large door open he peered inside. It was a jumble of old tools, vehicles pulled apart, an oddly large number of bowling balls and broken furniture but at the far end he did see a pile of wood, already chopped up and ready for the fireplace in the living room. Scrambling over all the junk McCoy looked at the wood and then his way back to the door, he didn't like the idea of lugging all the chopped wood back the way he came so his gaze moved to the small glass window next to him. Stepping back slightly and without hesitation he tossed one of the pieces of wood out the window, shielding himself from the broken glass. Peering out and seeing the log on the ground and the fact that there was no one around for miles, McCoy shrugged his shoulders and carried on.

"Like it makes a goddamn bit of difference…" dropping the logs on the porch McCoy wiped at his brow and made his way to the kitchen, turning the tap on the sink his head dropped in dismay. He'd forgotten about the lack of water. Looking around he eventually found a bucket and plodded back out, thankfully the water pump was in good working order and it didn't take long for him to fill the metal bucket with clean, fresh water. McCoy looked back up at the house, this was supposed to have been nice! The place had been recommended by a friend, well, a friend of a friend come to think of it. He'd looked at pictures and everything! He'd wanted them to relax, enjoy a good meal and sit together in one of his favourite places on Earth. Instead they were staying in a dump where there was a high probability both of them would end up needing a tetanus shot! McCoy realised that he hadn't seen or heard Lorna for some time, which was never a good thing. Shouting out her name he waited for her reply and when none came he couldn't help but roll his eyes and pick up his pace on the way back to the house, being careful to not fall in the broken step. The bucket was left in the hallway as he made his way round the house, shouting her name and checking each room.

"Lorna! Where the hell are you?!" Taking the stairs in two's McCoy started in the first bedroom which looked to have been used as a storage room for amateur taxidermy. "Well that's going to give me nightmares." Closing the door quickly McCoy went to the next room where he spotted the murder mattress and their bags sat nearby, still no Lorna though. "Lorna!" he shouted again, pushing the bathroom door open and staring in disbelief at Lorna's backside sticking out of the bathtub whilst she scrubbed vigorously with a soapy cloth. McCoy realised that she must have had her ear buds in and listening to music, padding over he placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered her name, trying not to startle her. Although obviously McCoy managed to scare the crap out of Lorna who screamed at the top of her voice and threw the dirty wet rag at McCoy's face by way of retaliation.

"Why are you cleaning the bath?" McCoy asked trying not to think about the amount of germs on his face.

"So we can take a bath!" Lorna answered, clearly not understanding why McCoy found it so strange. "I've already done the loo, which by the way, was one of the most disgusting things I've ever done in my life!" Lorna nearly gagged again at the memory.

"Then why don't we just leave?!" McCoy asked her.

"Because we're here and we're going to make the best of it goddamnit!" Lorna stood with her hands in the air like a Surgeon preparing to operate and McCoy couldn't help but smile at her.

"I'll try to get a fire going, I might be able to warm enough water up for you to get cleaned up." Lorna closed the gap between them and smiled lovingly at him.

"Thank you Leonard, I love you," she said as she went to hold his face and pull him in for a kiss but McCoy ducked her outreached arms and sidestepped her altogether, leaving Lorna confused.

"If you think you're coming near me with those hands you've got another thing coming Darlin'!" For about ten minutes after that Lorna chased McCoy round the house with her 'diseased hands', running down the stairs, behind furniture and even going outside onto the porch until she lost sight of him.

"Leonard?! Where'd you go?" Arms round her middle pulled her to the floor where McCoy ungainly sat on her until she 'tapped out'.

"I don't know what that means?!" Lorna shouted back to McCoy.

"Tap your hand on the floor, it means you surrender", McCoy explained.

"Can't you just take my word for it?" Lorna was still laughing and finding it hard to breathe.

"Tap out Lorna," McCoy instructed.

"Fine!" Lorna did as she was told and the pair slowly stood up, eyeing each other suspiciously.

"Now, I'm going to go my way and you're going to go yours, are we in agreement?" McCoy laughed as he slowly stepped away from his Wife.

"I'll get you one day McCoy!" Lorna growled before giving him a wink and going back inside, "Woe betide!"

* * *

Lorna had managed to have a lukewarm bath which, if she was being honest was more like an army shower! Still, she felt cleaner and as she walked down the stairs and buttoned her long nightshirt, smiling to herself at the absurdity of it all.

"Leonard?" she shouted out, not being sure where he was.

"In the living room," she heard him reply so she made her way in that direction. "Ta da!" Lorna laughed at McCoy, who was stood with his arms outstretched like a Magician who'd just pulled a rabbit out of his hat. The coffee table had one of his shirts laying over it and on top was all the food they'd brought that they could eat cold and uncooked. The fire was blazing and the candles were flickering nearby. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.

"You're the best," she told him as she gave him a kiss and sat down on the blanket he'd put out for the two of them. Kneeling up McCoy handed her a plastic cup of wine and proceeded to offer her cold food. Bringing her glass up to his Lorna toasted them both.

"Shall we go sit on the porch? Watch those lightning bugs I talked about?" he asked after they'd eaten.

"Sure," standing up they went outside and sat on the creaky bench, when they were sure it would take their weight they settled back and stared out into the darkness.

"Oh, I nearly forgot." McCoy dug into his pocket and pulled out two cigars.

"Leonard! Those things are illegal!" grabbing one nevertheless Lorna looked over it carefully.

"We don't have to…" holding his hand out he called her bluff and when she gave him a sideways look he knew she wouldn't be giving it him back.

"Where did you get these?" she asked as she watched him expertly unwrap the packaging and clip off one end.

"The less you know the better Darlin'."

"I've married a criminal," Lorna shook her head in mock dismay.

"You married someone who knows how to get his hands on these things, they're hard to come by you know?!"

"Oh I do know! The last time I had one of these was in medical school." As Lorna took in her first mouthful of smoke she closed her eyes. "These are so bad for you Leonard," she told him, watching him take a long drag and exhale slowly.

"But oh so good," the wickedness of the look that he gave her made Lorna blush and then, toasting one another again, the pair sat back and enjoyed the night sky.

* * *

The fire glowed and flooded the living room with an amber light as McCoy and Lorna stood facing one another laughing so hard they both struggled to hold back the tears.

"You can't take my weight!" Lorna exclaimed, shaking her head.

"Of course I can, remember when we were stuck in that hole?!" McCoy motioned with both his hands for her to run at him.

"Are you sure?" she found herself preparing to sprint towards him despite herself.

"Positive, just run and jump," McCoy hunkered down.

"Run and jump?" She was doing it!

"Yeah, three, two…" He was doing it!

"Wait!" Lorna stood upright and folded her arms across her chest.

"What?" McCoy came to stand also.

"On three or after three?"

"On three."

"Okay."

"Three, two one!" Assume positions!

"Arghh!"

* * *

Lorna audibly groaned, with no curtains on the windows the sunlight flooded into the bedroom and made her wince and squeeze her eyes shut. The epic hangover she was sporting wasn't helping either if she was being honest with herself. One of her feet and her left arm were resting on the bare floorboards and McCoy had rolled the thin blanket around himself sometime in the middle of the night leaving her bare arse exposed. Peeling her eyes open Lorna froze, right next to her head stood a bird. That's right! A bird. Lorna stared at the bird and the bird stared at Lorna until McCoy shifted slightly and the thing threw out its wings and set off in flight at which point Lorna screamed and scrambled from the mattress in horror.

"What the hell?!" McCoy asked gruffly, sitting up himself and staring at a naked Lorna stood in the middle of the room.

"There was a bird…" she started to explain but then realised there was no way he would ever believe her so just gave up and said 'morning' instead.

"How much did we drink last night?" he asked roughly.

"A lot! And my mouth feels and tastes like a petri-dish." Lorna stuck her tongue out and pulled a face. "I'll go and see if I can get some coffee on and then please, Leonard, can we please find a hotel?" McCoy fell back onto the mattress and closed his eyes.

"Sure thing."

As Lorna brushed her teeth she grinned broadly and dribbled toothpaste down herself when she heard McCoy swear at the top of his voice. In the middle of the night she had awoken needing the toilet. Coming out of the bathroom she'd paused outside the creepy taxidermy room, no she shouldn't! It was too far! Was it too far? Sneaking in quickly and grabbing a small stuffed squirrel who looked like it had seem some things Lorna hurried back to the bedroom and carefully, silently placed the expressive squirrel next to McCoy's head. He must have found it?!

* * *

After they'd packed up their things and bundled them into the car the pair set off down the road, it was beautiful scenery and every now and again McCoy would point out something or other to Lorna and she in turn would make up a little piece of trivia.

"Did you know that the earliest signs of Clowns were found in those hills?" she told him seriously.

"Clowns?"

"Yeah, cave drawings depict the Clowns driving round in tiny little cars, wearing huge shoes and honking their horns." It took everything she had not to break out smiling.

"Really?" McCoy played along.

"Sure, and you see that tree over there?" she asked pointing to the other side of the road.

"I do," McCoy couldn't wait to hear this!

"That tree belongs to the bain-marie family."

"Bain-marie?" McCoy repeated.

"Yep."

"Isn't that used to melt ingredients for cooking?" McCoy took his eyes off the road for a second to look at Lorna.

"Nope, don't think so?" Lorna answered shaking her head.

"I'm pretty sure it is," McCoy persevered.

"Well, we'll agree to disagree…" she was about to launch into another fact about the local wildlife being taught sign language when McCoy hit on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt. Lorna stared at him in shock whilst McCoy stared out her window, blinking rapidly. "What is it?" she asked turning to see what had caught his attention so suddenly.

"Where's my PADD?" he asked quietly to which Lorna answered the boot and proceeded to undo her seatbelt, turn and scramble into the back of the car, legs and arms flailing.

"FOUND IT!" Lorna pulled herself back (with the help of McCoy who for the life of him didn't understand why she hadn't just got out and walked round to the boot) and watched as he flicked through his PADD angrily. "Leonard? I don't understand what's happening, it's just a nice house?" And that's when the proverbial penny dropped for Lorna Heiland-McCoy! Turning to look at the picture perfect postcard farmhouse with its wrap around porch and gingham curtains Lorna slowly turned back to McCoy. "I'm going to ask you a question Leonard, you ready?" McCoy blanched.

"Shoot," Lorna took a deep breath.

"Did we, perhaps, maybe, stay in the wrong house last night Leonard?"

"I mean…?"

"And were we, perhaps, maybe, supposed to have stayed in that house last night Leonard?" she pointed to the perfect house with her thumb. "With its perfect paint and perfect curtains and probably a gorgeous bath tub and clean loo and definitely no murders?"

"I mean…?" They stared at one another, neither quite believing the mistake they'd made. "Look at this way, in life, it's not where you go but it's who you go with…" Lorna held up her hand.

"Don't even try it!" she said. "Whose house did we stay in last night Leonard?" amused, Lorna took McCoy's hand in hers.

"Damned if I know?!" he laughed, squeezing her hand and bringing it to his lips. Turning the car into the drive Lorna looked back down the road.

"We could literally see this house from where we were Leonard!" she said disbelievingly.

"What can I say, I was distracted by your beauty…" he stopped talking when Lorna creased her brow at him comically. "It was worth a try," he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

"I think we should keep this between ourselves." Lorna suggested to which McCoy vehemently agreed. "You know, if this is anything like what the rest of my life is going to be like with you, well Darlin', I'm the luckiest man in the world." Lorna looked at him with all the love in her heart.

"Yes you are."

 _ **The End**_


	14. Chapter 14

Lorna slipped her hand out from under her pillow and stretched it out towards McCoy, or at least where McCoy was supposed to be. Yawning and peeling one eye open she saw that he wasn't there and then sitting up, saw that he wasn't in the bedroom at all.

"Leonard?" she shouted out, wondering if he was in the bathroom. She must have got confused and he was on shift? Throwing her covers off she already knew he wasn't in there, no tell-tale sounds emanating from the bathroom, teeth brushing or running water giving it away. There wasn't any coming from the living room either? Yeah, probably at work and she's just mixed up her days. Lorna shrugged her shoulders and went to get herself ready, taking a shower and eating her breakfast she sat in silence apart from her sporadic humming. She figured she'd catch up with him in the medical bay.

Her walk to work was uneventful, in fact she hadn't seen anybody in the corridors, or on the turbolift.

"Is there a meeting I should be at?" she asked herself as she turned the corner towards medical. Coming to a stop she looked both left and right, it was eerily silent with the exception of the hum of the ship itself? Had she woken up at the wrong time? What time was it? Looking at her watch Lorna saw that it was indeed the right time, creasing her brow in confusion she contemplated shouting out, seeing if anybody would answer. No, she was nearly at work, she'd ask Nurse Vallo where everybody is.

"Good morning campers…" Lorna called out as she entered the bay but trailed off when she looked around and didn't see a single person. "Curiouser and curiouser!" she whispered to herself as her hand went automatically to her comm badge. "Heiland to McCoy." Nothing. She tried again but there was still no answer.

Narrowing her eyes she peered round the room, was it one big prank? Were they all going to jump out of the store cupboard and scare the living daylights out of her? Tiptoeing over to the cupboard she put her ear to the door, she couldn't hear anything? Tapping the console she prepared herself to be screamed at.

"Aha!" she shouted to the empty cupboard. "Oh, well that's disappointing." Going to her desk she tapped at her desktop, bringing the panel to life. "Computer, locate Doctor McCoy."

"Doctor McCoy is not on board." The computer answered unsympathetically.

"What?!" Lorna tapped away again, this time a tad more panicked. "Computer, locate Captain Kirk."

"Captain Kirk is not on board."

"Was there a medical emergency?" she asked.

"No notification of a medical emergency has been signalled." Lorna plopped into her chair staring at the emptiness of her surroundings. "Computer, run self-diagnostic." A second later it answered.

"Diagnostic has found no errors," she really didn't want to ask her next question.

"Computer, how many life signs are on board?"

"There is one life sign on board." Lorna felt her stomach drop.

"That being me?" she asked cautiously. "Crap," pulling herself up to her desk she began speeding through log reports, her mind racing with the possibilities of what could have happened to everybody on board the ship!

"Computer, are any shuttles missing?"

"Mission data can only be accessed from the main bridge console."

"Fine, be that way." Lorna jumped from her chair and sped off in the direction of the bridge. She was on her own, on a Starship, with no idea where everybody was.

* * *

Stepping onto the bridge Lorna instantly knew where to go, she had passed her bridge officer test, with flying colours no less which meant that she could now take command if necessary. Whether she actually wanted to was another matter entirely!

"Computer, list departing shuttles for the last twelve hours." Damnit! None! Lorna concentrated on her breathing, she had to stay calm. "Computer, list transporter activities for the last twelve hours." None! She was quickly running out of ideas! Tapping her fingers on the console over and over again she tried to think of other possibilities. "What else? What else?" she asked herself.

Did somebody come aboard?

No, no other life signs…

Are their signals being blocked and this is one whole joke?

No, no blocks on signals…

Did another ship dock?

Nope…

Lorna started pacing around the bridge, she was worried, and scared but most of all she just wanted to see McCoy.

"Oh! Spacesuits!" she exclaimed, momentarily thinking she'd cracked it. "No, don't be ridiculous!" She carried on pacing, walking round and round the bridge racking her brain. Finally she sat in Kirk's chair, biting her nails and bouncing her legs up and down nervously. "Where would I go if I disappeared from the ship?" she pondered to herself.

She sent a subspace message to Starfleet first, probably thinking it was best that they should knew a whole crew had disappeared. Then she sent beacons out to scan the surrounding space, there was no class M planets so that was out. Her Mother's voice came into her head about four hours later when she was sitting in the Captain's chair again, her legs resting up and over one of the arm rests. It was telling her not to go anywhere, don't move! When she was child and she'd get lost her Mother would tell her to stay where she was, that she would find her. Lorna decided at that moment that she wasn't going anywhere, if they were lost somewhere and she moved, well, they wouldn't know where she'd gone. No, she was staying put, until they came back.

* * *

All her scans and probes had come back with zilch sign of the crew and Lorna found herself, fourteen hours in, lying on the floor of the bridge trying desperately not to cry. Deep down, in the lizard part of her brain she was also feeling left out, why was she the only one not to disappear? Did they not want her to disappear with them? She needed to pull herself together!

"Security!" she exclaimed, scrambling up and going to Uhura's station. Typing in the time code she watched the video footage of the bridge from twenty six hours earlier, there they all sat with their pretty little faces and bodies! Lorna smiled, seeing Kirk sat in the Captain's chair, leg resting languidly over the other. "Where'd you go?" she whispered to herself, watching the footage closely. Watching them all disappear with a flash of white light was one of the worst things she'd ever seen and as she held back her sobs she plonked down in the chair, having no idea what to do next.

"Well well, aren't you a sorry state?" Lorna's head shot up at the sound of the unknown voice and upon taking in the features of the man stood in front of her, Lorna stood up and demanded to know who he was.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Doctor Heiland, I am Q." Lorna watched as he stretched out his hand towards her but she didn't move.

"Where is the crew?" she asked firmly to which the man laughed and sat himself languidly in Kirk's chair.

"Now now, must we get straight to business? You seemed so fun and interesting." she watched as he polished his nails on the material of his shirt.

"Pardon me?" Lorna was struggling to feel sane. "Who are you?" she asked, his previous introduction doing nothing to calm her.

"Perhaps you mean, 'where are you?'" he suggested to her glibly.

"Alright…" Lorna ground out, "where are you?" she asked reluctantly. The man jumped from his seat and walked towards her again with a sprightly skip in his step, he was altogether too smiley for her liking and definitely up to something. Lorna didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, but, for some reason she already knew that she would need his help if she ever wanted to see McCoy or any of the crew again.

"I am from the Q Continuum, an extra-dimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of beings known as the Q." Taking a grand, theatrical bow Q took hold of Lorna's hand and brought it to his lips. "Enchante mon Cheri."

"Q?" she repeated, "Q, what did you mean when you said I seemed fun and interesting?"

"Oh well being immortal is so tedious you see and well, I find humans by in large tedious and predictable but in comparison you're practically effervescent!"

"Immortal?" Lorna asked.

"As a race, the Q is immortal, we possess the ability to alter, create, or destroy virtually any form of matter or energy, and to affect time in essentially any way we chose." Q clicked his fingers and in an instant his clothes had transformed into that of a Starfleet Captain. Lorna's jaw dropped open and she was about to ask another question but Q held up his hand. "Alas, my dear Doctor Heiland, we can move but entire asteroid belts and stars, create alternate timelines, affect universal states of nature but I. Am. So. Bored!" bringing his hand up to his forehead dramatically Q fell into Lorna's arms.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, pushing him away. "Bored?! Is that why you made my crew disappear?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?!" He was a madman! "With all these powers that you say you have, why don't you apply yourself to doing good?" Q laughed and tweaked the end of her nose as if she was child.

"Aren't you cute! We have already engaged in constant dialogues of discovery and other universal issues," he said like a solemn teenager. "I have experienced, observed and discussed literally everything imaginable to your puny brain."

"There's no need to be rude!" Lorna pointed at him. "So you've decided to simply use your powers to stir up trouble and cause chaos? Solely because there is nothing else to do?" Lorna exclaimed angrily.

"Bingo!" Q answered.

"Well, well that's not good enough damnit! We are not some play toy, I demand you return the crew, at once!" Lorna felt powerless and unsure as to what to do next.

"I am excessively diverted Doctor Heiland!" Q responded. "But I was oh so hoping that you would indulge me…"

"That's enough!" Lorna held up her hand for him to stop talking. "Enough is enough!" Lorna walked briskly passed Q and towards the turbolift but upon entering the cylindrical room she found herself stood on a stage dressed in medieval costume. Spinning on her heel she saw Q stood behind her, similarly dressed.

"Where are we?!" she asked alarmed.

"I would think that obvious?" Q answered, taking a bow out towards the jeering crowd. "I'd be quick if I was you Doctor Heiland, the crowd can get quite leery." Lorna turned to the crowd and watched as they shouted and jeered for her to perform.

"I am not performing for you Q! Or anybody else for that matter! Return me at once." Lorna shouted at him.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players…" Q shouted to the crowd who cheered and applauded. "Come now Doctor, indulge me won't you?" Lorna was dumbstruck, she could see no way out.

"Set your eyes upon this man!" she suddenly shouted out to the crowd who cheered in response. "Is he not to be ridiculed?" she added theatrically.

"That's not Shakespeare?" Q commented and Lorna turned to him belligerently.

"Who said anything about Shakespeare? I'm improvising Q, it's what we humans do best!" and with that she turned back to her audience. "He is tall yet lacks stature, broad yet holds no authority. His snivelling smile crawls over is expression like a snake! Are we to bear this Ladies and Gentleman?" Shouts came from the crowd along with boos and jeers, "Pride without reason is the greatest fault indeed," she turned to look at Q, "and you Sir suffer the sin of pride with no reason, justification or proof. You deserve all of our censure and pity!"

"That's enough!" The white flash before her eyes made Lorna squeeze them shut and when she opened them, she saw that they were back on the Enterprise.

"Were you not entertained?" she asked him tersely.

"I see no reason for you to be so cruel," Q remarked.

"You don't? You appear in front of me, having taken everyone I care about away, you insult me and ask me to perform for you! I'm sorry if I've lost my sense of humour! You're bored? Perhaps Q you should endeavour to become a better person, care for others, find ways to improve your character. Humans have strived to better themselves since the dawn of time, for a being that can create or destroy virtually any form of matter or energy, Q, you're a bit of a dick." Lorna shrugged her shoulders to emphasise her point and when Q burst out laughing, well, she had no idea whether or not he was about to hug her or vaporise her into oblivion. Giving her a round of applause Q came to stand in front of her.

"Oh bravo! Bravo! Well said Doctor Heiland!" Lorna's face was straight save for her eyebrows which were crooked from confusion. "You're absolutely right of course, as you always are." Walking towards her Lorna took a tentative step back, not sure what he was up to but then kissing her hand and pulling her into an embrace, Q dipped her as if they were dancing the tango and just as he did, clicked his fingers, the crew appearing around them.

"Merci mon Cheri." Q whispered to her seductively.

"What the hell is going on?!" McCoy's voice resonated around Lorna's head and she closed her eyes in relief.

"Ah, dear Captain Kirk," Q addressed Kirk with open arms who was looking from him to Lorna wildly. "Alas, we must defer our tête-à-tête," turning back to Lorna he gave her a wink. "Until we meet again Doctor Heiland," and with that he disappeared.

"Lorna?!" McCoy ran over to her and pulled her into an embrace. "What happened?" he asked.

"Umm... Well, you know what?" She was about to launch into a full explanation but abruptly closed her mouth and shook her head, laughing and shrugging her shoulders. "I'm going back to bed," she announced to the entire Bridge before slowly walking to the turbolift. Lorna ignored both Kirk and McCoy who were shouting after her and with a tired wave of her hand, she let the door close behind her.

 **The End**


	15. Chapter 15

"If there's something strange, in your neighbourhood…" Lorna made her way past bed one with an armful of blankets piled ridiculously high. "Ow!" catching her leg on the corner she tripped slightly and struggled to keep the blankets upright before carrying on her way. "If there's something weird, and it don't look good…" setting the blankets down on bed five Lorna tried to remember what she was doing? "Who you gonna call?" she whispered quietly to herself. "Ghostbusters," trailing off she clicked her fingers when she remembered that she was supposed to be prepping the beds for the maelstrom of crew physicals they were carrying out in the morning.

Taking the corners of one blanket and unfolding the material it immediately became her cape, she hadn't decided whether she was a superhero or royalty of some kind.

"Fear not children! For I am the mighty Lorna and I will save your planet from destruction by using my superpower…" she hadn't worked out what her superpower was. "Harnessing unparalleled power!" she finally decided upon. Setting the blanket down on the bed she tucked the corners in neatly. The next blanket became her capote de brega as she, a matador, teased the bull but she quickly lost interest in that and transformed herself into a talented tango dancer. "Ole!"

Tucking the second blanket in Lorna grabbed another, unfolding the material and wrapping it around her head.

"As long as he needs me!" dropping to her knees Lorna tightened the blanket round her face. "Oh, yes, he does need me!" doing her best cockney accent she belted out the old musical song with passion and bravado. "In spite of what you see, I'm sure that he needs me!" The roar of the audience was deafening.

Three beds down, two to go.

Lorna talked herself through the steps of a good blanket tucking, imagining she had an audience of wet behind the ears medical cadets, my goodness those were the days! She'd become distracted again.

"Right! When it comes to making a bed, there is no better way to create a clean, crisp look than a tidy hospital corner." She spoke to her doting audience who were listening to her intently. "What's a hospital corner?" she asked the imaginary Cadets. "The term may sound daunting and trigger visions of well-kept army barracks or neat and tidy hospital rooms. However, when you break it down, making a bed with hospital corners is actually quite easy and not as hard as it sounds." Taking the blanket Lorna continued her training. "Step One: Lay the flat sheet on top of the bed, make sure that it hangs evenly over the sides." She demonstrated thus. "Step Two: Start at one corner at the foot of the bed. Slightly lift the mattress and tuck the hanging fabric along the foot of the bed. The excess fabric should now be hanging on the sides of the mattress." Lorna patted down the material with the palm of her hand and checked that everybody was following.

"Step Three: Grab hold of the excess fabric. Lift it up and place on top of the mattress. The edge of the sheet should form a forty five degree angle with the corner of your mattress." Lorna waited for Cadet Libby to finish writing up her notes. "Step Four: Hold the fabric forming a forty five degree angle. Tuck in hanging fabric along the side of the mattress and let the sheet fall. Step Five: Adjust the edge of the sheet to the corner of the mattress and tuck in. Step Six: Repeat steps two through five on the remaining corners." Lorna took in the pristine bed in front of her, whoever ended up with that bed was a lucky bugger indeed!

* * *

All the stations were ready and all the equipment tested, Lorna had been going nonstop since the start of her shift. A coffee and a cupcake were quietly whispering her name over and over again.

"Yes I know I know! Just hang on a minute." Going to the replicator she requested her coffee and Red Velvet cupcake, seeing it appear in front of her she felt the little tingle of excitement she always got when the delectable confectionary appeared. "Come to Mummy," she whispered, sitting at her desk and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Captain Kirk to Doctor Heiland, report to the bridge." Of course she'd just taken the biggest mouthful of sponge as the message sounded out.

"I'mf onMy wayah…!" rolling her eyes at her mangled response Lorna leapt up and grabbed a med kit. Down the hall, turbolift, command deck. Avoid gaggle of Engineers in corridor, second guess yourself as to which direction to go. Yep, Lorna knew this place like the back of her hand. As the door slid open Lorna scanned the area in front of her, seeing Kirk sat in his chair holding his head with one hand made it pretty clear as to why she'd been called.

"Captain Kirk?" she called out.

"Oh hey, hi Doc." Kirk answered giving her a lopsided grin. Kneeling in front of him Lorna gently moved his hand away, revealing quite a nasty gash on his forehead.

"You want to tell me what you've been up to Captain?" she asked as she pulled a dermal regenerator from her kit.

"You have icing on your cheek," Kirk whispered back to her and Lorna wiped at her face hastily.

"Thanks, now what happened?"

"I tripped," Kirk answered reluctantly.

"Tripped?"

"Yeah Lorna, tripped!" Kirk looked at her as if ' _you're one to talk_ ' and he had a point. Giving him a quick wink Lorna finished healing his forehead and then pulled herself back up.

"All done, you're good to go Captain."

"Thank you Doctor Heiland."

"Anytime, see you later!" standing up she gave everybody a wave as she left. "Bye everybody!" she shouted to the Bridge and Kirk couldn't believe his ears when the entire Bridge crew all shouted back in unison ' _Bye Doctor Heiland!_ '

Lorna quickly made her way back to the med bay hoping her coffee hadn't gone cold.

* * *

She was supposed to be filling out reports but Lorna had zero enthusiasm for work, finding her mind wondering a little more than usual. She didn't normally find herself feeling bored at work, she loved work! Couldn't keep her away! But tonight it was a struggle she wasn't going to lie. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the crew physicals were actually starting in the last portion of her night shift and she already knew by that point she would be feeling tired and a little fed up. Most were in and out quickly, getting the mandatory physical done as quickly as possible but some crew found it an opportunity to get every little weird thing they'd found on their body recently checked out and Lorna had had enough of checking out weird things.

She span around on her stool a couple of times, letting her head loll back as she did.

Fifteen minutes went by without her actually thinking or moving, at all!

Wondering around the med bay took ten minutes, she'd never noticed the set of drawers over by the decontamination bay before?

"They haven't been there from the start?" Lorna said to herself as she went to open them, seeing that it was equipment for the decon chamber and that one of the sensors was in there when it should have been in the chamber itself, she picked it up and went to put it back. "Nobody puts anything back in the right place!" she grumbled, she was more and more turning into McCoy!

Tripping on her own foot and flailing her arms out, hand slammed into display unit, display unit set off decontamination system, door closed!

"Shit," Lorna stared at the display unit. "Eight hours!" There must be an override or something?! No, of course there wasn't! Now she had two choices, comm McCoy straight away or just wait until he came into work in three hours? She chose the latter, what was the point in waking him just so that he could call her an idiot through a pane of glass for the remaining five hours that she'd be stuck in the blasted thing?!

* * *

Three hours later and McCoy was making his way to work, he'd slept well and was feeling particularly chipper, you know, for him! He was looking forward to seeing Lorna, they'd been working different shift patterns so had really only seen one another as they passed by in their quarters, either high fiving or tiredly hugging one another before going to bed. Walking in the hairs on the back of his neck instantly stood on end, looking around he couldn't see Lorna which meant trouble, pure and simple.

"Doctor Heiland?" he called out. "Doctor Heiland?" he repeated stepping further into the medical bay. Seeing her curled up on her side asleep in the decon chamber made him instantly feel sick to his stomach, why hadn't anyone told him there'd been a medical emergency?! Running up to the side he slammed his palm against the console so that he could speak to Lorna inside. "Lorna! Lorna goddamnit!" he shouted. It was then that he noticed she wasn't hooked up to any of the machines, none of her vitals were being recorded. Creasing his brow McCoy second guessed his original assertion that Lorna had been involved a serious incident. "Lorna! Wake up!" he shouted again and watched as bleary eyed, Doctor Lorna Heiland, his Wife (I mean seriously) sat up and gave him an embarrassed wave of her hand.

"Hi Leonard," she greeted him with a tight smile.

"What the hell Lorna?!"

"I locked myself in," she explained.

"On purpose?" McCoy asked.

"Would that make it better?" Lorna thought she had an out.

"No not really," he'd crossed his arms! crap, he'd crossed his arms.

"Then no, it was accident."

"How long does it have left?" he asked, crossing his arms and shaking his head at her.

"Five hours," cringing Lorna waited for his response. McCoy stood and stared at her, my god he found her beautiful. Frustrating as hell but beautiful nonetheless.

"Just try to stay out of trouble alright?" he told her.

"Leonard! What else am I going to do in here?!" Lorna laughed loudly as she waved her hands in the air, demonstrating her point perfectly by knocking a bunch of medical equipment off a table and jumping when it went clattering across the floor. McCoy just walked away.

* * *

Five hours later Lorna squeezed herself through the barely open door and legged it to the toilet, ignoring McCoy, Kostas and everybody else around her! Sulking back she replicated a coffee and picked up a crew physical PADD. She saw that McCoy was stood next to her, smirking. She really disliked it when he smirked.

"What are you standing around for? We've got crew physicals to get through!" shaking her head at him disappointedly she pointed her finger at him. "You're really starting to bunk off," she told him seriously as his eyebrow arched ridiculously high and he barked with laughter. "It's a good job there's somebody around here who actually gets anything done!"

* * *

Three weeks later they found themselves on a planet, as you do when exploring deep space.

"What are we doing?" Lorna spoke out the side of her mouth.

"Don't."

"I'm just saying," McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Don't say it," he answered.

"We wouldn't be stuck here watching Captain ' _look at me I've got my big boy pants on_ ' Kirk argue for diplomatic immunity if he hadn't of stuck his..."

"Lorna!" McCoy growled.

"Nose in where it doesn't belong," she finished and then creased her brow. "What did you think I was going to say?" She knew what he thought she was going to say.

"Don't toy with me woman, I'm tired, dirty and in need of a drink." Lorna hid the smirk creeping at the corners of her mouth.

"I love you you know?" She told him and she watched as his edges softened.

"I know," he replied and then taking her hand he made his way towards Kirk. "Jim, we getting out of here?" Kirk turned to the pair and gave Lorna a wink.

"Where's your sense of adventure Bones?!" Without missing a beat McCoy turned to Lorna and then back to Kirk.

"Do you see me sat on a porch in Georgia Jim?" Kirk glanced at Lorna when McCoy wasn't looking.

"Is he tired?" Lorna shook her head. "Is it something I said?" She really wanted to say yes.

"I think he's getting a cold," Lorna excused herself quickly and returned to McCoy who was muttering to himself in the corner. "How about when we get back we have a nice long shower, I'll make us dinner, your favourite and you can beat me at poker?" She had him! The twinkle in his eye told her she had him.

"You'll let me win huh?" He asked.

"Every hand," she brought her lips up to his ear so she could whisper. "And for added shits and giggles let's make it strip poker, how does that sound?" McCoy couldn't even play it cool.

"Sounds damned perfect to me." He answered breathlessly.

"Guys!" They both turned to Kirk who was waving them over. "We can leave!"

"Lord have mercy," McCoy mumbled.

* * *

Later that evening when Lorna had nothing but a pair of aces concealing her... pair of queens (see what she did there) she smiled at McCoy.

"Your move Cowboy," McCoy grinned.

"I call," putting his cards on the table in front of him he asked Lorna what she had.

"I've got nothing," she lied, throwing her hand away she sat back and laughed. "Just what the Doctor ordered I'd say!" she commented, checking her manicure casually.

"You know I'm starting to think it ain't half bad Kirk getting us in scrape or two every now and again, you know, if this is the result." He was already pushing his chair back and approaching her with purpose.

"You're encourageable." Lorna teased.

"You're delectable."

* * *

Lorna had the place to herself. Ah the night shift, her old and trusted friend.

"Take good care! Of my business! Everyday!" She was trying to grow her fringe out but the only thing she'd achieved was to have the blasted thing in her eyes all the time. Kostas had suggested she clip it back but she thought it made her look like a toddler and when she asked if it did Kostas couldn't lie.

She looked like a five foot four toddler! Whipping her head to one side to try and get it out of her face she felt a twinge in her neck.

"Ow!" Unbelievable! Rubbing her neck she carried on writing her reports.

Never a dull moment.

 **The End**


	16. Chapter 16

Lorna licked three of her four fingers and dragged them through her fringe, it was no good, it had had a huge kink in it since the moment she'd woken up. McCoy had told her it looked fine but she knew it didn't, she should have put a couple of bobby pins in it like she'd planned! Stupid McCoy making her feel better!

"Doctor Heiland, medical emergency." Lorna tapped her badge quickly.

"What is it Commander Spock?"

"Captain Kirk has issued a distress beacon, please meet me in the transporter room."

"I'm on my way," grabbing a med kit Lorna hastily made her way to the transporter room, trying not to let her imagination run away from her. McCoy was with Kirk, why did Kirk need help? Tripping into the transporter room she was advised by Spock of the away team's location and then ushered onto the transporter, flanked by two security officers. "You're not coming?" she asked the Vulcan.

"Energise," Lorna screwed up her face at Spock.

"Rude," she mumbled as particles of white surrounded her and she disappeared from view.

* * *

Lorna looked around at the planet she had found herself on, desolate and bleak, that's how she would describe it.

"The caves are that way," Lieutenant Orr said behind her. Nodding Lorna told him to lead the way, gripping her med kit she followed careful not to trip on the large stones protruding from the ground. She was on tenterhooks, having no real idea of what had gone wrong. Spock had advised that shortly after Kirk had issued the distress their comms had gone silent. The other security officer, Lieutenant Lallinger was the strong, silent type and Lorna found herself peering at him from time to time, wondering if he secretly loved crochet and Murder She Wrote?

"We're two klicks away," Orr shouted at them, the wind had picked up and it was hard to hear one another over the roar of the storm.

"What's a klick?!" Lorna shouted at him, when he didn't answer but just carried on walking Lorna stared into the back of his head.

"Rude," she whispered as they carried on.

The two officers lead the way into the mouth of the cave, Lorna had wondered why one of them hadn't stood behind her, you know, in case something was behind them but she'd already asked too many questions and couldn't bring herself to ask another. When the pair drew their weapons Lorna eyes went wide.

"Whoa look at that!" she said shocked. "You really have those huh? Wow, this is um, this is a lot. Do you think you need those? Just in case huh? No, I get it…" she was rambling.

"Doctor, please." Orr said to herm his eyes telling her to stop talking.

"Yeah of course, got it, totally understand." They all took a further step into the cave. "Should I have one of those? Nobody gave me one before we left, should I have got one myself?"

"You're fine," Lallinger told her. She didn't believe them, only the thought of Kirk or McCoy being in possible danger kept her from falling to the ground and having a tantrum.

"Walking further into the caves the intrepid adventurer could only imagine what was behind the next corner…"

"What are you doing?" Lorna jumped and held her chest in surprise.

"You scared me!" she admonished Orr.

"What are you doing?" Orr repeated.

"Narrating?" Lorna awkwardly suggested.

"Don't," the officer told her and Lorna nodded.

"Rude," she whispered as they carried on. Finally they turned a corner and Lorna instantly saw Kirk and McCoy, the pair of them on the floor and not looking great. In a matter of seconds she was at their side, seeing that Kirk was conscious and McCoy wasn't her attention was focused on her Husband. "What happened?" she asked, assessing his injuries and trying to work out why he wasn't conscious.

"Landslide, Bones took the brunt of it." Kirk told her, hissing through his own pain. Without looking Lorna handed Kirk a hypospray who knew it would be a painkiller and gladly accepted it. "We need to get out of here, the planets unstable." Lorna was too focused on McCoy to really pay attention to what Kirk was saying, she did notice the two security officers talking though, probably devising a plan to get them out of there.

"I'm fine by the way," Kirk told Lorna.

"I know, you're talking." She replied not looking away from McCoy who was covered in scrapes and bruises. "You know they have weapons!" she pointed to the two security officers and didn't understand why kirk was looking at her the way he was. "Did you say that was okay? Those things are dangerous Captain!"

"I think they know what they're doing…?" Kirk said slowly.

"Well let's hope so, for both of our sakes!" shaking her head in sheer astonishment Lorna turned back to McCoy.

"He pushed me out the way," she turned back to Kirk, seeing the frustration and gratitude in his eyes.

"Of course he did," she whispered and smiled. "He's an idiot." When Kirk laughed Lorna felt her breath hitch in her throat. She was losing it, up until that point she'd been able to see him as just another patient, needing her care and attention. Clearing her throat and shaking her head she got back to it.

"He has a broken leg, spine is fine, we can move him but we'll have to carry him." Lorna told Orr who nodded.

"Lallinger, you're up." Orr pointed at the man before making his way over to Kirk. "Captain, you need a hand?"

"Love one," Kirk answered before letting the officer heave him up and put an arm around him for support.

"I've stopped the swelling, we can move him but we need to be quick." Lorna watched as Lallinger picked up McCoy. Following them out of the cave Lorna kept her tricorder trained of McCoy the entire time.

"What would you rather do?" Creasing her brow she looked at Kirk confused.

"Captain?" she asked, the group still making their way out.

"What would you rather do…"

"Are you trying to make me feel better Captain?" She asked.

"I thought maybe it would help…" Kirk had never seen angry Lorna, as far as he could remember.

"Appreciate it Captain, little busy right now." Kirk tried not to sulk.

"Rude," he whispered as they emerged from the cave and Orr gave the order to beam them up.

* * *

Lorna Heiland had eaten way too much chocolate, like ' _she couldn't move and her uniform all of a sudden didn't fit anymore_ ' too much. Plus she was tired, really tired. She thought the chocolate would've helped with the tiredness, it hadn't. Now she just felt tired and full. She was kind of bored as well, she didn't think of herself as a crank, but even in her own head she was telling herself to stop whinging! Maybe water would help? It wouldn't.

It had just been so long since she'd had any time off, plus the recent away mission hadn't been great and she'd lost one of her favourite earrings, the small ones that McCoy had bought her from…well she couldn't remember where they were from but she loved them and now she only had one which was no use nor ornament to her was it! Knowing she had some shore leave coming up had tipped her over the edge; she was struggling to sprint the last mile.

It was obvious then, she was in a foul mood.

"So, what are you doing with your time off?" Kostas asked, perching on the bed where Lorna was curled up in the foetal position.

"We're just going to stay here," she told them.

"Stay here, why aren't you going down to the planet? The festival is on this time of the year."

"That's why we're not going," Lorna raised her eyebrows as if what she was saying was completely obvious and reasonable.

"Because the festival is on?" Kostas asked and Lorna nodded her head.

"You know I don't like crowds," she reminded her fellow Doctor.

"Oh yes that's right, you have the dubious fear of there being a stampede." Kostas laughed.

"It's not 'dubious', it's very un-dubious!" Lorna creased her brow in confusion. "In-dubious?" she tried. "It could happen!" she finally settled on.

"Umhum, I've never known anybody so risk averse and worried about the most inane things," Lorna's bottom lip stuck out a bit in despondency. "Especially when you were one of the only people I know crazy enough who volunteered to provide medical aid to the Bexgolian disaster!" Lorna ignored Kostas' point.

"When you could hurt yourself in a pillow factory you learn to reduce the opportunity for accidents," was her retort.

"Yes but Lorna, lots of people? Really?"

"But they're usually taller than me as well…"

"You're scared of tall people?" Kostas interrupted, not even trying to hide their absolute astonishment.

"They can loom," Lorna explained.

"Loom?"

"Yeah, anyway we're not going." Lorna wasn't feeling as full from all the chocolate which was good but now she wanted hummus, which was bad.

"Don't you want to see the Colosseum?" Kostas didn't even know why they were continuing with the conversation, it would come to nought they knew it.

"I don't like steps," Lorna said quickly by way of an answer.

"I'm walking away now," Kostas told Lorna before actually walking away, all the while shaking their head.

"I get dizzy!" she shouted after them as if it made any difference.

* * *

"Alright, Nurse Vallo can you finish up here and I'll get the paperwork done," Lorna smiled at Lieutenant Pfaff. "How does that sound?"

"Sounds great, thank you Doctor Heiland."

"Don't mention it, and remember for next time, just add a little Olive Oil to the Hummus before you serve it. Trust me, you'll never look back!" Lorna gave the woman an excited grin, her mouth was watering just thinking about it.

"Thanks for the tip," Lorna waved a hand before going back to her desk. When she saw Vallo walking past she waved her over.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Always," Vallo answered, always enjoying her weird and wonderful exchanges with Doctor Heiland.

"Am I boring?" Vallo laughed.

"You're not boring!" she answered.

"Kostas was giving me stick for not wanting to go to the festival," she explained.

"It's not for everybody," Vallo said supportively.

"I like routine," Lorna told her.

"I know."

"I don't like not knowing what I'm doing," she continued.

"That's fine," Vallo wasn't sure where this was going but it was highly unusual for Lorna to doubt herself so Vallo knew something was playing pretty heavily on her mind. "Perhaps don't look at it as not knowing but…"

"An adventure?" Lorna interrupted.

"That's what I was going to say!" Vallo agreed (it wasn't what she was going to say).

"Like Indiana Jones?" Lorna continued, excited at the prospect.

"Sure," the young Nurse had no idea what she was talking about.

"Interesting…" Lorna was sold.

"So, I take it you're going to go?"

"Oh I am so going and I'm going to be spontaneous and reckless and all of those things!" Vallo held her hand up for a high five but apologised when Lorna shook her head. "Sorry, forgot you don't do those." She watched as Lorna pulled a PADD off her desk and started typing away. "What are you doing?" She had to ask.

"I'm writing down all the spontaneous things I'm going to do," she told her. "Thanks Vallo."

"Anytime,"

"Should I get a tattoo?" Lorna shouted after her.

"No!"

"Spontaneity!" Lorna shouted at the top of her voice.

"Oh God she's not going to make it," Vallo whispered to herself.

* * *

When Lorna got back to their quarters later in the day she straightaway sat next to McCoy who was reading a book, waiting patiently she expected him to look up and acknowledge her, ask how her shift went as he always did but he just kept on reading so she just kept on staring at the side of his head.

"What is it?" he asked, not looking up.

"I think we should go to the festival," she told him.

"But you're scared of crowds?" McCoy replied, still not looking up from his book.

"I'm not scared of crowds," she argued.

"Alright, you're scared of lots of people running in the same direction." Lorna's bottom lip was sticking out again.

"That's hardly how I'd describe it…"

"You wanted to be pedantic…" he interrupted.

"Leonard, let's go to the festival."

"Alright," finally looking up at her McCoy gave her a quick smile and stood up. "You going to help me pack?" he asked her before walking to the bedroom (he knew she'd change her mind).

Lorna instantly regretted everything.

* * *

"Hold my hand," Lorna said quietly as they walked the streets of the city.

"What?" McCoy hated it when Lorna mumbled.

"Hold my hand Leonard!" she repeated, a little too loudly and little too panicky than entirely necessary. McCoy laughed and took hold of her hand, when she held on to their joined hands with her other it reminded McCoy of a shy toddler.

"You're fine Lorna," he told her. Walking amongst the crowds McCoy took in all the sights and sounds. People were dressed in elaborate costumes and on nearly every street corner a band was playing lively music. He was looking forward to the next few days.

"Where are we going?" Lorna asked him, pulling her straw hat down.

"Down here," McCoy answered pointing to the street that lay ahead of them.

"What's down here?"

"I don't know, we can just see where it takes us." Lorna looked at her Husband as if he'd grown another head, looking down at her McCoy laughed and squeezed her hand. "Come on, you're fine. Enjoy yourself." Something always strange happened to McCoy when he was on shore leave, how could Lorna describe it? He relaxed. All of his worry, doubt, fear of all things… spacey went away leaving a very chilled out cool customer. Lorna liked shore leave Leonard, he'd pull her out of her comfort zone and helped her to 'go with the flow' a little more than she was comfortable with.

Pulling her along he pointed out the local artwork and the ladies selling flowers. Lorna was starting to calm down and somewhat enjoy herself when just in that moment a man behind her wrapped what can only be described as a fury snake round her neck and then asked if she wanted a picture for a small nominal fee. Lorna closed her eyes and stopped moving when she realised she had an animal on her.

"Leonard," she whispered. McCoy was already shaking his head at the man, telling him they didn't want any pictures but when the man started arguing back, trying to get them to pose together Lorna felt herself losing her resolve. "GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!" she shouted, earning a few looks from passers-by who were either amused of shared Lorna's distaste for bizarre animals being plopped on you in exchange for five credits. The poor man finally realised he wasn't going to get a sale and peeled the fury snake from Lorna who proceeded to shiver uncontrollably and look at McCoy as if he'd shit on her pancakes.

"You okay?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Peachy," she answered quietly.

"Shall we go the Colosseum?" McCoy asked tentatively. "I won't make you go down any steps," he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek and making a nuzzling sound against her neck.

"Sure, why not. May as well round off this amazing day with yet more things I don't like." She was joking, kind of.

* * *

The Colosseum wasn't as bad as Lorna had expected (not as many steps as she'd imagined and she'd made the right decision in waiting at the bottom whilst McCoy had gone to the top). In fact there'd been some great little food stalls dotted about the entrance and Lorna and McCoy had both enjoyed a Falafel type thing that also tasted like corn on the cob! The sorbet was amazeballs and Lorna had gone for seconds on the local delicacy, a sweet and sour kebab type thing.

"You know we're taking our own lives into our hands, we're definitely going to get food poisoning." Lorna rolled her eyes at McCoy.

"We're both Doctors Leonard, I think we'll have something in the med kit to combat a little stomach bug." Lorna laughed and tucked her arm through his as they walked.

"It's nearly dinner, do you want to go get a drink first?" McCoy asked, leading her down another street.

"Sounds perfect, can we find somewhere where we can sit out on the street and people watch?" she asked.

"I'll do my best," McCoy answered.

"With those old fashioned chairs and tables and the glasses with the little umbrellas in?"

"That's very specific," McCoy commented.

"Now is that the normal 'can do' attitude I'm use to from you Leonard? No, no it isn't." Lorna shook her head in disappointment.

"You packed the med kit didn't you?" he suddenly asked and Lorna stopped walking. Turning to face her Husband very slowly she tipped her head back and blocked the sun from her eyes.

"No, because you said you were packing it." She answered slowly, already knowing what was coming next.

"Well, hopefully we won't get food poisoning and then it won't be an issue." They looked at one another grimly, neither of them being under any illusion that from that moment on they were destined to become sick as dogs.

"You just had to say it didn't you?" Lorna whispered at him.

"We have two choices Heiland, go back to the hotel now and await the inevitable or drink as much as possible tonight knowing we're in for it anyway?" She had to grin at him for his suggestion. It was a really bad suggestion but that was besides the point.

"In for a penny and all that?" she asked, mulling over his proposition.

"Something like that Darlin'" McCoy answered, giving her a wink.

"Well, what are we doing stood here?! We're wasting valuable drinking time!" Lorna shouted as she flung her hands in the air.

* * *

Lorna and McCoy were the last ones sat in the small courtyard of the bohemian restaurant and bar. Little sparkly, fairy lights lit up the ivy covered walls and the trellises that arched over them. Soft music played and large heaters kept them both warm and bathed in a reddish hue. They'd ordered bottle after bottle, interspersed with cocktails and food off the menu. Couples and parties had come and gone around them and neither had paid any attention to anything other than one another.

"Pardon me," the Waiter said, hovering over their table.

"Yes?" McCoy asked, noticing that all the tables around them were now empty.

"We have closed…"  
"Oh, we're sorry…" McCoy started but the Waiter held his hand up.

"No Sir, please, stay. If you could do me one favour and turn the heater off before you leave? You can use the gate at the back of the garden."

"Of course," McCoy replied.

"Then please enjoy," The Waiter said as he put two large Brandy glasses on the table. "On the house."

Lorna and McCoy watched as the Waiter went back inside and one by one all the lights inside the restaurant went off. When the music shortly followed the pair looked at one another and picked up their glasses.

"Cheers to us," McCoy toasted.

Not long after Lorna stood up (swayed a little and then lopsidedly grinned at McCoy).

"Get you coat Sailor, you've pulled!" Lorna told him, giving him a cheeky wink.

"What did you just say?" McCoy barked.

"Nothing," she'd chickened out.

"Oh no, I think it was something…"

* * *

"There once was a couple from the Enterprise, who decided to go ahead and improvise. They ate a Falafel, which made them cough offal…"

"Lorna! Stop!" Lorna hadn't peeled her head off of her pillow for three hours, her mascara had melted into the cotton and the drool from her mouth had gone crusty on her cheek. She'd awoken to the sound of McCoy in the bathroom, hugging the toilet and swearing between each hurl. She'd lost the contents of her stomach hours ago (outside the hotel actually, classy!) and had been lucky enough to move on to the 'other end'. Now the pair lay beside one another, barely breathing, barely alive.

They had already gone through the five stages of grief.

 **Denial;**

"We just drank too much," McCoy advocated.

"My tummy feels funny but I think it's because I'm hungry," Lorna had kind of agreed.

 **Anger;**

"Who in their right mind would eat food from a cart on the street?!" McCoy barked as Lorna sat on the end of the bed doubled over in pain.

"I don't remember you saying anything at the time! I do remember you eating as much as I did, if not more! Who's idea was it to go for drinks and dinner?!" Lorna shouted back.

"You're an idiot!"

"You're an idiot!" Lorna echoed and McCoy threw his arms up in the air.

"Real mature Lorna," he managed to quip before running to the bathroom again.

"Real mature Lorna," Lorna whispered to herself whilst making a funny face and sticking her tongue out, staring daggers at the closed bathroom door.

 **Bargaining;**

"If you loved me you'd go back to the ship and get a med kit," Lorna implored.

"Hate to break it to ya Darlin'," McCoy slurred.

"Don't you dare!"

 **Depression;**

"Leonard? Why did this have to happen to us? It's not fair, we're not bad people are we?"

"Try to get some sleep Lorna."

"You didn't answer my question." Lorna was looking at McCoy with one eye open and the other closed, she had no energy left.

"We're not bad people Lorna, just idiots."

 **Acceptance;**

"We are idiots," Lorna whispered to McCoy who hummed in response and mumbled an 'I love you' before going to sleep for fifteen hours.

* * *

Both Lorna and McCoy had barely made it back to the ship and to their quarters before both of them needed to… evacuate something! There was something about sharing the experience of utter sickness, complete vulnerability and sheer grossness of the situation together that made the duo even more in love with one another. The way McCoy would always make sure her water was fresh and topped up to the way Lorna would get him a clean t-shirt to change into every couple of hours.

As they finally started feeling better they just lay in bed together holding hands, telling each other terrible jokes and arguing over the merits of Andorian Pilates being used as a therapy for vertigo.

They nearly fell out when a game of thumb wars got out of hand (there was no way she was buying that it had been an accident!).

They used 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who would answer the door when the chime rang out.

Lorna lost.

"How do I look?" she asked McCoy who starred at her blankly, her blanket comically tucked under her chin.

"You look swell sweet cheeks," he finally answered in his 1940's film noir flair.

"Liar," Lorna ground out before hobbling over to the door, taking her blanket with her. "Hello Captain," she smiled wearily at the bronzed, smiling face of James 'I wish he would get food poisoning too the little son of a…' Kirk.

"Doctor Heiland, you're not looking your best there!" he told her laughing to which Lorna narrowed her eyes at him and remembered the Hippocratic Oath.

"Can I help you Sir?" she asked, not even trying to mask her absolute disdain for his chirpy demeanour.

"Just wanted to check in on my two favourite people," she felt like she was going to throw up again. "Can I get you anything? Grilled cheese sandwich?"

"LEONARD!" she shouted, still staring at Kirk who jumped in surprise at her outburst.

"What?!" came the answer from inside their quarters.

"COME HERE!" Lorna shouted again, all the while still staring at Kirk who was now in fear for his life.

"Why?!" She was going to lose it.

"Excuse me a moment would you Captain?" Kirk watched as she gave him a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes and backed away from him slowly. When she disappeared out of view he waited, straining to see if he could listen in on their conversation. He couldn't hear anything but that didn't matter when a minute later he watched (gobsmacked) as McCoy (in nothing but his birthday suit) strode over to the door and closed it in his face with not even a 'How do you do?'.

Kirk blinked hard, his brain deciphering everything that had just happened and everything that he'd just seen. He had to admit it, he was impressed.

"Mazel tov Bones…"


	17. Chapter 17

_**I am absolutely blown away by your reviews, they are very much appreciated. I'm so glad you're enjoying this story and it is the most fun to write!**_

* * *

Lorna had been humming to herself for the past half hour, it wasn't any particular tune, she was just humming. It was so busy! It was the night shift yes but there'd been an breakout of an unknown pathogen. (Nothing too serious, just made people sleepy and sozzled.) All the beds were taken up and each one assigned a Nurse to prevent any… shenanigans. There was no rhyme or reason as to who was affected (as far as she could tell, McCoy was currently trying to work that little chestnut out in the research lab).

She preferred it quiet.

The effects wore off after several hours and everybody was at different points of recovery. Some were sleeping it off, others were still arguing, a select number of gems had got to the oh so pleasant _'I love you, you're my best friend, why don't you love me?'_ stage.

That was Lorna's favourite.

Kostas had offered to sedate everybody, the Doctor really did like sedating people but Lorna just shook her head in despair.

She'd made a little tent on her desk out of two PADDs propped up against one another, you know, for the little people she'd made out of gauze and the sticks they used for stirring things. Pulling their tiny blanket over them she whispered goodnight before pushing her chair back. Grabbing two coffees and a Red Velvet Cupcake (for her, not for McCoy let's make that clear right now! He knows what he did!) she made her way over to the research lab. Using her elbow to press the access pad the door opened as Lorna poured the two cups of coffee down her Doctor's coat, dropped the cupcake and swore at the top of her voice. McCoy, for his part, simply turned and took in the sight before him. Opening his mouth to speak he stopped when Lorna held up a solitary, cautionary forefinger. Then she opened her mouth to speak but there was really nothing to say so she just left and McCoy carried on with his work.

Pulling off her coffee stained coat she grabbed a cloth and got on her hands and knees, clearing away the spilt coffee and cupcake. She should have known better than to try and do something nice, it never worked out! She should have stayed where she was, humming.

" _It's the hard-knock life for us, It's the hard-knock life for us._ " How did icing get up the wall? " _Steada treated, we get tricked, steada kisses, we get kicked._ " Lorna pulled herself up and made sure the floor wasn't wet. " _It's the hard-knock life!_ " Expertly deploying her best jazz hands didn't stop her from skidding on a lump of cake she'd failed to notice, Lorna's legs flew out from under her and she landed with a thump on her backside. Her screech was overshadowed by the ramblings of Ensign Ruiz who had been very loudly reciting Asimov's rules of robotics, or was it laws of robots? Whatever it was she'd been at it for hours!

"First Law!" the woman shouted from her bed. "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." Lorna was still on the floor, trying to ignore the pain radiating from her back. "Second Law, A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law." Slowly sitting up Lorna looked around, nobody had even noticed which was both a blessing (because why did anybody need to see that?) and a disappointment (because she wanted sympathy; it really hurt!). "Third Law! A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws." Hobbling back to her desk she gingerly sat down and stared out onto the sick bay.

"Here," jumping in surprise she saw that McCoy was stood next to her, a coffee and Red Velvet Cupcake in his hand. When he put them down in front of her and gave her that smile that he only gave to her she gulped. Oh no! She was going to cry. Not trusting herself to speak she stared at the cupcake. "Lorna?" McCoy said concerned and that was that, she couldn't hold it together. Her eyes prickled with tears and she did that weird inhale/hiccup thing when she tried to tell him she was okay.

It was just so nice, it was just such a nice thing to do!

McCoy racked his brain trying to work out what was happening?

"Thank you Leonard," she said when she thought she could speak without bawling.

"You sure? You don't look too happy about it." He asked, smirking.

"It's so lovely, you're so lovely." She told him, eating the cake whilst sniffling. She didn't even bother making sure her sponge to cream cheese ratio was correct, she just shoved in one side of the thing and hoped for the best.

"Everything alright?" Lorna nodded ardently. "You need anything else?" he asked and Lorna shook her head equally enthusiastically. "Can I go back to work?" again Lorna gave him a silent nod. When he bent over and gave her a kiss on the top of her head she nearly burst out crying again.

"I fell over," she whispered through tears, cake and sniffles.

"You hurt anything?" he asked, again trying not to laugh.

"My bum," she confessed.

"Want me to kiss it better?" Lorna side eyed McCoy before he gave her a wink and walked back into the research lab. Taking a sip of her coffee Kostas came into view looking decidedly horrified.

"The Captain is naked again." Spitting her coffee back into its cup Lorna stared at Kostas. "You think I'm dealing with that?" they said.

"Yes?" Lorna replied and when Kostas just laughed at her heartedly she felt like crying again.

* * *

McCoy walked out of the research lab hours later, the bay was now dark and the remaining patients were all sleeping. Making his way over to Lorna's desk his eyebrow arched in confusion and concern when he saw that she was wearing a full on Hazmat suit. The thing was her head was on her desk and as he tilted his head he could see that she was asleep through the clear, face window thing. Shaking her shoulder McCoy called out her name until she woke up, groggily sitting up and giving him a smile.

"Care to explain?" he asked.

"Explain what?" she asked and McCoy couldn't even comprehend how anybody could think it was anything other than the fact that she was wearing a full protective suit.

"The suit?" he persevered.

"Oh this," Lorna said surprised. "I had to put Kirk back in bed." She explained.

Leonard McCoy was a rational man and he loved his Wife dearly but there were times…

Lorna picked up on his discomfort and expanded on her answer.

"He was naked… and exuberant… and who knows where he's been!" McCoy chose to accept the reason being given without further questioning. "You've seen his medical file Leonard, do you think I was going to touch that?"

"Why haven't you taken it off?"

"It's warm," Lorna answered smiling contently. McCoy was already acquainted with the fact that Lorna could complain she was cold on a hot summer's day so he already knew that anything, anybody or anywhere that kept her warm was her Achilles heel.

"And you fell asleep?" he continued.

"Yes," she answered.

"Because you were warm?" he deduced.

"You know me so well!" Lorna smiled and tried to give him a hug.

"You're out of your goddamn mind if you think I'm hugging you in that thing!" he exclaimed, pushing her away.

"What? This doesn't do it for you?" Giving him a rather ' _not suitable for work_ ' dance Lorna sneezed and not being able to cover her nose sprayed snot all of the clear face window thing. "Well that's disgusting," she commented before seeing the look of horror on McCoy's face. "Please don't divorce me."

* * *

McCoy had been in their quarters for over an hour by the time he heard the door swoosh open. Getting up from the bed where he'd been reading he walked into the living room.

"You said you'd be right behind me…?" he started. "Why are you still wearing the suit?" he asked Lorna as she stood in the middle of the room, her arms hanging dejectedly by her sides.

"I couldn't reach the zip and nobody was there to help me," she told him. Walking over Lorna let herself fall into him, the plastic over the head covering crackling against McCoy's chest. McCoy put his arms around her and gave her a hug.

"You want me to help?" he asked and laughed when the plastic moved up and down. "Come on," taking her gloved hand he guided the way, as he always did.

* * *

McCoy had been in a foul mood all day, he'd had to listen to that Vulcan and the Kid argue the merits of First Contact and the perhaps not so great idea of the Captain flirting with one of the Daughters of the Grand Chief for over two hours on the Bridge before it had all got too much for him and he had stormed off.

"Goddamn irresponsible… Playing games with life!" he mumbled as he launched himself into his quarters and stormed around like a bear with a sore paw. "I'm done, they're going to be the death of me and everybody else! Who do they think they are, damned lunatics." Pouring himself a drink he continued his mutterings as he shirked off trousers and left them where they fell. "I'm a nervous wreck… If I'm not careful I'll end up talking to myself."

Lorna, who had been in the bathroom when he'd come in heard the commotion outside and finished up quickly. Peering round the door she just caught sight of him wrestling his uniform off and over his head, getting stuck for split second and letting off a series of expletives.

"How was your day?" she asked. The look he gave her when he finally got out of his fabric prison was enough for her to wince. "That good huh?"

"I'm going to bed," he told her.

"Can I get you anything?" Lorna asked as she pulled on her boots and watched as McCoy fell onto the bed face first and groaned into his pillow.

"MfGHybmffff?" came the mumbled response.

"Love you," she shouted as she left but instead of heading towards the med bay, Doctor Lorna Heiland-McCoy headed in the direction of the Bridge.

* * *

Lorna walked with purpose towards Kirk, who was lounging in the Captain's chair.

"Captain," she said pointedly. Kirk looked up, slightly surprised at seeing Lorna stood beside him.

"Doctor Heiland?" Standing he took in her stern looking features. "Is everything alright?" he asked, completely thrown by the icy stare he was on the receiving end of.

"A word in private," it wasn't a request. Lorna strode towards the conference room adjacent to the Bridge with a very befuddled Kirk following after. Once inside Kirk didn't dare speak and Lorna wasn't interested in anything he had to say. "Captain, good leadership and support can have a significant positive impact on a crews mental wellbeing. If a Captain establishes good relationships with the people around them, then they will be able to talk openly when there is a problem." Kirk opened his mouth to speak but Lorna made it perfectly clear with everything about the way she was looking at him, standing and the tone of her voice that he was not, to utter, a single word. "Leaders can support positive expectations of what the Officer can achieve. This gives the Officer control in a supportive environment." Lorna took a breath, "You have a duty of care Captain, it is your responsibility to protect people from workplace health risks, all processes and control measures related to maintaining a healthy workplace are under your obligation. If I feel like this obligation isn't being met Captain I'll be forced to report the matter to Starfleet, understood?" It wasn't a question.

"I'm sorry Lorna," he started.

"If Doctor McCoy, or anybody else for that matter ever comes back from the Bridge, or anywhere else for that matter, in that state again you will be!" she answered menacingly. Kirk had no idea she had it in her! He would have been impressed if weren't for the fact that he was genuinely frightened of the woman standing in front of him.

"It won't happen again," Kirk promised.

"Woe betide if it does!" Turning on her heel she left quickly, when she was safely in the turbolift and the door had closed behind her Lorna took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes at herself. "You will be?!" she repeated her earlier threat to Kirk. "Who says that? ' _You will be!_ ' Ugh!" Well, it was done now.

She needed to work on her fighting talk… _'Woe betide!_ ' Seriously?!

His face was kinda funny though…

Lorna felt kind of good, like her adrenaline was going and she was proud of herself. He deserved it, making people angry and stressed, there was no need for it! Walking down the corridor she walked with a little added bounce into the med bay.

"Evening Doc," Vallo greeted her.

"I'm kicking names and taking arse Vallo!" Lorna announced as she stopped in the middle of the bay and took the stance of a Superhero, hands on hips and looking out into the distance.

"Don't you mean…" Vallo started.

"And a very good evening to you too Nurse Vallo," Lorna continued. "You need anything? You okay? If you need anything you know where I am!" Lorna gave the Nurse a cracking smile and a thumbs up, she neglected to see the look of bewilderment on Vallo's face. "Vallo!" she shouted out a moment later as she turned back around as if she'd left the oven on at home.

"Yeah?" Vallo answered hesitantly.

"Let's set up a session for all the Senior Officers, health and wellbeing in the workplace." She was doing that weird thing with her hands as if she was Cowboy and she had two pistols in her hands.

"Okay?" She still didn't know what was going on.

"Great, I'm getting hummus, you want some?" Lorna pointed at her, doing that weird thing with her hands she did when she was excited.

"I'm good, thanks?" Still had no clue.

"You sure? It's pretty good hummus, have you tried it before? You know what, don't answer that! I'll get you some, you want pitta with it? You know what, don't answer that! I'll get you some." Giving Vallo a wink she sauntered off in pursuit of the transcendent almighty chickpea. "You won't regret it my friend!"

* * *

A few days later McCoy was having a drink with Kirk when the poor young lad went quiet.

"Everything alright Jim?" McCoy asked, sipping his Bourbon and enjoying a quiet moment. Kirk hesitated.

"Your Wife told me off," he mumbled.

"Pardon?" McCoy thought he heard what he said, he just needed to be sure.

"Lorna came and shouted at me…"

"Shouted?" McCoy interrupted.

"Well, not shouted, but she threatened me Bones!" McCoy had to swallow the laugh brewing in his belly. He thought his friend had been acting differently over the past few days, he hadn't been able to put his finger on it until now.

"Good," he finally responded. Oh but he wished he'd been a fly on the wall. Kirk realised he wasn't going to get any sympathy from his friend, so changed the subject.

When McCoy saw Lorna later that evening he listened attentively as she told him all about her lunchtime foray into the world of mime, apparently it was quite difficult to genuinely look like you're stuck in a box.

"You're amazing," he told her out of nowhere. He really did think she was, he really did love her too. How could he not and the fact she'd stuck up for him? Gone to the Captain and given him what for? Too cute.

"Obviously," Lorna answered without missing a beat and then a moment later asked why.

"You just are," he said, getting up from the dining table and pulling her into an embrace. Lorna let out a satisfied sigh and smiled into McCoy's chest.

"Okay," she agreed.

McCoy was very… Well, let's just say he was very grateful, very grateful indeed that evening.

* * *

Lorna lay on the floor behind her desk, an empty sick bay meant Lorna Heiland was messing. She'd already healed her eye herself having managed to fling a huge dollop of shampoo in it before coming to work. Now she was stretching out her limbs, she considered it Yoga but not having ever done Yoga she actually didn't know whether or not it was? She could take a nap? No, she wasn't tired. McCoy had made her eat dinner before her shift as well so she wasn't hungry. Standing up she looked around the bay, clicking her fingers to get her brain working she wondered how she could fill her time. Narrowing her eyes, an idea came to mind and she grinned in self-regard and glee.

"Computer, rotate lighting, alter colour spectrum every ten seconds and intersperse with flashes every five seconds." Standing Lorna smiled. "Computer, play Out of Space by The Prodigy, Loud. Very loud." And that's how Lorna came to find herself having her very own, private rave for twenty minutes (until she got a stitch and had to sit down). She was very please with herself though, she used two tricorders, one in each hand as glow sticks!

Now she was hungry.

Cupcake or Hummus? Or Pie! Savoury pie, not sweet pie! She wasn't a monster!

"Oh Pie?!" Now there was an idea. "No, not pie." She admonished herself. "Don't be ridiculous!" Shaking her head at herself she carried on with her duties, taking inventory, making sure the crew physicals were all planned in. She'd put her earbuds in at some point but had toned it down somewhat and was currently listening to some classical music which was very calming and nice. She flittered around, puffing up pillows and restocking shelves.

At around the halfway mark of her shift she got an interesting case of an allergic reaction from one of the Botanists, that kept her quite busy…

After that a quick plasma burn, knock to the head and a charming case of gastroenteritis took her almost to the end of her shift. Almost.

"Oh come on!" Lorna exclaimed, letting her head loll back in exasperation. A loud clanging sound caught her attention and Lorna found herself staring at the wall. Scrunching her face up in confusion Lorna sat quietly and still, there it was again! Slowly getting to her feet she tip toed towards the wall and ever so gently put her ear to the panel.

There was definitely something in there.

"We meet again," she whispered which meant nothing to anybody and didn't even make sense but sounded ominous and cool to Lorna.

Tapping her comm badge she opened a channel to Engineering where she was abruptly told that it was probably nothing and that they were busy and that they would get there after they'd finished up doing every other job.

"Well there's no need for that!" Lorna muttered to herself as she stood back up and looked around her, wondering what to do next. Grabbing the toolkit that sat in one of the maintenance drawers Lorna set about removing the panel in question. Heaving the thing off she set it to one side and looked inside, letting out a low whistle she took in the array or wires, duotronic relays and little blinking lights.

There was the sound again!

And it was definitely louder. Tentatively reaching out towards the panel with her hand Lorna stopped abruptly and looked at the tools beside her. She had no idea what she was doing but when had that ever stopped her before?. Running over to her desk she grabbed a PADD and jogged back over to the panel again, tapping away she brought up a schematic of the panel she was looking at.

"How do I take the front bit off?" she asked aloud. The diagram was about as useful as a set of IKEA furniture assembly instructions so she tossed the PADD to one side and decided to give it a good ol' college try. Picking up what looked to be a sonic screwdriver (sorry wrong fandom) Lorna went for it.

"I can do this, can't be that hard right?!" The subsequent jolt shot her clear across the floor, leaving her splayed out, down for the count and sizzling. A few minutes later she came to; "Ow?" Turning onto her side Lorna took a moment to ascertain her injuries but was interrupted by Kostas walking through the main door.

She knew it, she was never going to live this one down.

"Oh hey!" she tried to act casual as she wafted away the smoke that was still billowing around her. "Funny story… " she started but the look on Kostas' face told her to quit while she was ahead. "I think something's in there?" she continued.

"Something? Could you be more specific?" Kostas asked to which Lorna looked at them wide-eyed.

"I'm a Doctor not an Engineer!"

"I see," Kostas pulled her up off the floor and led her towards one of the beds.

"I feel like my fingers are full of energy," Lorna said absentmindedly as she held her hands up in front of her face. Kostas just placed them back in her lap and waved a tricorder in front of her.

"You know you're going to get in trouble for this don't you…?" Kostas started but the pair of Doctors were both side-tracked by the sound of knocking coming from the panel.

"I told you!" Lorna exclaimed. Kostas looked from the panel to Lorna and then back again.

"You have got to be kidding me," the Doctor exclaimed, shaking their head and already knowing what was coming next.

"You have to help me," Lorna was already jumping off the bed.

"Not a chance in hell Heiland."

"Come on, there might be something seriously wrong…"

"Exactly," Kostas interrupted.

"There's no time to lose," Lorna whispered to herself as she started fiddling with the panel again, this time being very careful not to prod what she prodded before. "As the crack team tried to penetrate the force field little did they know that evil forces were quickly catching up to them."

Kostas rolled their eyes.

"Heiland, get away from that panel!" Kostas shouted.

"But?"

"No ' _But_?', AWAY!" Lorna downed tools dolefully.

"Fine," she said sulking. "At least comm engineering and let them know there's a genuine problem." She asked.

"Oh there's a problem alright, you've finally lost your last marble. Now get back over here so I can find out whether or not you've done any lasting damage."

"There won't be any lasting damage," Lorna laughed.

"Ha! Famous last words."

 **To be continued.**


	18. Chapter 18

Lorna lay on the floor behind her desk, an empty sick bay meant Lorna Heiland was messing. She'd already healed her eye herself having managed to fling a huge dollop of shampoo in it before coming to work. Now she was stretching out her limbs, she considered it Yoga but not having ever done Yoga she actually didn't know whether or not it was? She could take a nap? No, she wasn't tired. McCoy had made her eat dinner before her shift as well so she wasn't hungry. Standing up she looked around the bay, clicking her fingers to get her brain working she wondered how she could fill her time. Narrowing her eyes, an idea came to mind and she grinned in self-regard and glee.

"Computer, rotate lighting…" Lorna stopped talking.

"Order not recognised," The computerised voice replied.

"Computer, delay order." There was something wrong? She had an overwhelming feeling of Deja vu. She couldn't put her finger on it but something wasn't right. Sitting behind her desk she tapped her fingers along the edge until she'd thoroughly exhausted every probable reason for her feeling like something was peculiar. Deciding she was hungry she went to the replicator but couldn't decide between cake or hummus.

"Oh Pie?!" Now there was an idea. "No, not pie." She admonished herself. "Don't be ridiculous!" Shaking her head at herself she carried on with her duties, taking inventory, making sure the crew physicals were all planned in. She'd put her earbuds in at some point and was currently listening to some classical music which was very calming and nice. She flittered around, puffing up pillows and restocking shelves.

At around the halfway mark of her shift she got an interesting case of an allergic reaction from one of the Botanists, that kept her quite busy…

"Were you in here yesterday?" she asked Elaine Grundy.

"No?" Elaine answered looking slightly perplexed.

"You sure? You didn't have an allergic reaction yesterday?" Lorna asked.

"I'm sure Doctor Heiland, are you sure you're not getting me mixed up with somebody else?" The Botanist asked and Lorna laughed, dismissing the notion.

"Must be, sorry, all the days seem the blending into one at the moment." Lorna finished up what she was doing and when Elaine Grundy had left typed up her notes on her PADD. That's when she saw the date. She'd been putting down the wrong date all day yesterday?!

Lorna continued with her day like any other, not long after Crewman Xia came in with quite a nasty plasma burn.

"Everything alright Doc?" he asked, she'd been staring at him since the moment he'd walked in?!

"Everything's fine, why would you ask?" Lorna answered a little abruptly.

"No reason!" Xia nervously countered. Lorna looked at him suspiciously and then dropped her equipment on the bed.

"Weren't you in here yesterday?" she asked suspiciously.

"No?"

"I think you were?" her face was disconcertingly close to his.

"I wasn't."

"Have you hit your head recently Crewman?" Lorna stood back with her arms crossed, she suspected memory loss but from what she wasn't sure. Placing her hands on the man's head she started feeling for bumps.

"I haven't hit my head Doctor," he told her, now altogether freaked out.

"Fine," she said letting her arms fall by her sides. "Have it your way," Lorna finished up treating his burns and sent him on his way.

She kept quiet when Ensign Gale came in with a bump to her head but when Commander Chlapoutakis came in with a sore tummy Lorna held her hands up in front of him.

"No! No way!" The Commander looked on in bewildered shock.

"I'm sorry?" he started but Lorna shushed him, gave him a hypospray quickly (she'd prepped it, knowing but secretly hoping he wouldn't come in) and ushered him out. Pulling her chair round she sat directly in front of the door.

Waiting.

"I'm not crazy," she whispered to herself.

(There was that sound again, from behind the panel.) There was no way she was getting into all that again!

Lorna watched as the bay door swished open to reveal Kostas and as soon as she saw the Doctor stood before her she manically laughed and briskly walked past them. Kostas didn't think anything of it.

After all, this was Lorna Heiland we are talking about.

* * *

"Dinners on the table, make sure you eat!" Lorna heard McCoy shout from the living room as she dried her hair, blearily looking around for her uniform she squinted her eye closed. For the third time that week she'd managed to get shampoo in her eye.

"Wait a minute?" Lorna whispered to herself.

"Everything alright Darlin'?" Turning she looked at McCoy who was stood watching her from the doorframe, plastering on a smile she told him everything was fine and quickly finished getting dressed. Scoffing her dinner Lorna fled their quarters and hurriedly walked down the corridor to the turbolift.

She needed to make sure.

Lorna did nothing until Elaine Grundy walked through the door. As she treated the Botanist she brought her lips to the woman's ear.

"I know what your doing," she whispered threateningly but when Elaine looked at her in horror Lorna knew she had no idea what she was talking about.

Sitting at her desk she reviewed the medical logs, creasing her brow in confusion when they only went up to three days ago.

"Unless," she started. "We haven't got that far?" Opening a comm channel to Kostas she got the other Doctor to the med bay early so that she go find out what the hell was going on.

"It'll be quiet anyway," they started.

"Something tells me you'll get an allergic reaction, plasma burn, knock to the head and a pretty bad case of gastroenteritis." Kostas laughed, obviously not knowing why Lorna's prediction was so specific. Lorna said nothing and left.

* * *

"Captain!" Lorna shouted as she slipped through the opening door of the turbolift and stepped out onto the bridge, missing the step she nearly went flying but righted herself at the last minute. As if nothing had happened she stopped in front of Kirk and got straight to the point.

"We have a problem."

"Problem?"

"Yeah, problem. We're stuck, stuck on stardate four one one five three point seven." Kirk didn't blink.

"That's today Doctor Heiland," he told her laughing lightly.

"I know that Captain," Lorna was losing her patience.

"We haven't got to the end of today yet, how could we be stuck?" He decided to go with it, in the back of his mind he wondered if McCoy had set her up to play a trick on him.

"Because I've already done today three times Captain," she told him in all seriousness.

"Captain, we're approaching the planet." Lorna looked at Sulu who had just spoken.

"Thank you Mister Sulu, put us in orbit." Kirk turned to Spock. "Mister Spock?" Spock turned and inclined his head.

"Captain, the planet is experiencing strong solar activity, it will take me some time to gather my readings."

"Proceed Mister Spock," Kirk turned back to Lorna. "Sorry Doc, what were you saying?" Lorna rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Never mind," she mumbled as she left the bridge. She was obviously going to have to work this one out on her own.

* * *

"What are you doing?" McCoy sat still as Lorna carried out a myriad of medical checks on him. He had asked why but when she had failed to answer him he'd just gone with the flow. He found it easier that way sometimes.

"Any feelings of Déjà vu?" she asked, looking at the readings on her tricorder.

"No," he answered slowly.

"Umhum, my turn." She told him.

"Your turn what?" he asked as he jumped off the bed.

"I want you to do a full physical Leonard, full psych evaluation as well." She told him firmly.

"Darlin' when I imagined us playing Doctors together I didn't imagine this," McCoy said laughing, trying to lighten the mood.

"This is no time for your tomfoolery Leonard, let's get on with it please." McCoy was taken aback by her tone and demeanour. Lorna was never serious, except when it came to food. Or the very real danger of creepy children that looked like old people! It was thing apparently.

"Alright Darlin', you wanna tell me what I'm looking for?" he asked.

"Anything," Lorna answered, laying back on the bed and hoping to god there was something wrong with her because if there wasn't, then, what the hell was she going to do next?

* * *

"Elaine Grundy doesn't know, neither does Crewman Xia or Commander Chlapoutakis." Lorna lay on the floor behind her desk, she'd already healed her eye (again) having managed to fling a huge dollop of shampoo in it before coming to work (again). Now she was stretching out her limbs, still feeling full from the dinner McCoy had made her eat. "That doesn't mean there might not be somebody else on board who's aware of what's going on as well." Scrambling to her feet Lorna ran from the bay and towards the mess hall. Grundy wouldn't appear for another hour anyway. It was one of the main meal times on the ship and the majority of the crew would be in there having breakfast, or dinner, or whatever meal it was for them. Standing with a sea of people around her Lorna wondered how best to get everybody's attention.

Climbing onto a chair and then the table Lorna grabbed a plate and with all of her strength threw it on the ground.

"Well, that worked." She said to herself as a sea of faces all turned to her expectantly. She opened her mouth to ask if anybody was reliving the same day like her but didn't know how to phrase the question. "Please can you come speak to me if you have done this before, I mean I've done this before. If I've done this before please see me." When she saw the sea of faces turn confused she rolled her eyes. "Does anybody feel like they're doing the same thing over and over?" she shouted out. When a timid hand came up Lorna yelped and pointed at the nervous Lieutenant. "How many times have you gone through today?" she asked. The Lieutenant immediately looked sheepish and as if he wished he'd never put his hand up.

"Well, I mean, I've been working at the same station for three years now and at my last performance review I did say I wanted to maybe, have a change? A secondment… or something?" Lorna's heart sank.

"Right, well, thanks for that." Getting down from the table she stalked out the mess hall now knowing she was the only one who knew they were all repeating stardate four one one five three point seven over and over again.

* * *

Lorna skipped the shower, there was no way she was going through the pain of shampoo in her eye again! Legging it out of their quarters (she waited for McCoy to go to bed, she didn't want all the questions and it felt awful to hide anything from McCoy but she just didn't have the time!). Lorna headed straight to the Bridge, this time though she wasn't going to waste her time with Thicky McThicky, she was going straight to the Vulcan!

"Commander Spock!" she shouted from the turbolift, earning a look from the entire bridge crew. From Spock, she earned a signature eyebrow raise.

"Doctor Heiland, is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah yeah, well, no, kind of, I need your help." She told him.

"Very well but I am due to carry out research on a nearby planet and…"

"Don't worry about that Commander," she interrupted. "It'll be experiencing strong solar activity anyway, you've got time." Spock's interest was piqued.

"How do you know that Doctor Heiland?" he asked.

"Because," she leant in closer. "We've already been here."

"We have not explored this region of space before Doctor…" Spock started but Lorna shaking her head and laughing stopped him from finishing his sentence.

"Oh we have Commander, about eight times now. On this day, at this time, only I'm the only one who knows it." Spock didn't even miss a beat before replying.

"You are purporting we are in a loop of some kind?" Lorna nodded her head slowly.

"A time loop yes, only we repeat one day. One day Commander." Holding her finger up to labour her point Lorna hoped to God he would take her seriously. It was looking hopeful.

* * *

"I'm telling you I'm not crazy!" Lorna huffed as she sat in the med bay surrounded by McCoy, Kirk and Spock. It had taken all of five minutes after her conversation with Spock to have arrived there being subjected to every test under the sun. "Goddamnit!"

This was going to be harder than she thought.

"If you are indeed repeating the same day over and over again Doc," said Kirk. "Then what's stopping you from doing anything you wanted?" he asked. Trust him to think of that!

And that's when the lightbulb went off over Lorna's head. Grinning she looked at the three men.

"Absolutely. Nothing."

* * *

She broke her leg skateboarding in the corridor the first loop. Typical.

She stayed in bed all day on the second.

On the third?

"Captain!" shouted Chekov, turning in his chair and gawking at Kirk in horror.

"What is it?"

"Doctor Heiland Captain, she's stolen a shuttlecraft Sir and broken through the forcefield?!" (She'd also stole a load of booze from the mess but who's counting!)

* * *

"Hey Doc, how are you?" Kirk greeted Lorna as he walked by her in the corridor. He never even saw the right hook coming, Lorna was surprised at how much blood there was. Like seriously, it sprayed up the wall and everything! She figured it was his fault for her being in this situation anyway!

* * *

Loop fifteen she played the day out, having lost interest in doing things with no consequences. The fact was it was lonely, she wanted to see McCoy, not on this day but the next. She wanted to carry on with her life. Finishing her shift she went back to their quarters where all she wanted to do was be close to her Husband.

"You're especially cuddly today," McCoy commented, laughing at the way Lorna had attached herself to his side. Lorna just hummed, keeping her eyes closed and trying to forget that soon enough she'd be back on the floor of the med bay in no time at all. "I was thinking we could try and cook that new dish tomorrow, you know, the one you found in that old cookbook? What do you say?" Looking up at his face Lorna smiled sadly.

"That's sound nice," she answered, knowing it would never happen.

She needed to fix this.

* * *

"Spock! You, me, now!" Lorna grabbed the arm of the Vulcan and pulled him towards the briefing room, she had no time to waste. Well, that wasn't true was it but you know what I mean?!

* * *

At the sixtieth loop mark Lorna screamed. I mean ear piercing scream at the top of her lungs.

She'd found herself righting everything that went wrong that day before it happened. Saving Elaine Grundy from her allergic reaction. Stopping Crewman Xia's plasma burn. She didn't always prevent Commander Chlapoutakis' gastroenteritis though, he kind of deserved it.

She could never quite stop herself from splashing shampoo in her eye though.

She started each one of her conversations with Spock explaining to him all of their previous conversations, sometimes it worked, sometimes she'd find herself back in the med bay. But as each ' _day_ ' passed they debunked one of the ever expanding number of potential causes they came up with.

"You need to be present for the entire day on the Bridge Doctor Heiland, to see what occurs around the time of our orbiting the planet." Spock told her on her sixty seventh loop.

"You think there's something on the planet?" she asked, a glimmer of hope.

"I do not know Doctor, that's what you will find out." On the next loop Lorna reiterated everything that happened to Spock.

"The planet was experiencing strong solar activity, there was a geomagnetic disturbance and you said that when it hit its peak it somehow connected with the Enterprise?" Lorna had no idea what she was saying?

"And what were you doing Doctor?" Spock asked.

"I was here, on the Bridge, you told me to stay and watch what happened?"

"No Doctor, what were you doing the first time?" Spock asked and that's when Lorna smiled.

"I was messing with things I shouldn't have been Commander!" she answered grinning. "I think you've done it Spock!" she shouted excited.

"You neglect to realise Doctor that I have done nothing, if what you say is true. I will forget everything we have discovered today and you will have to explain it again." Spock nearly felt sympathy for the woman.

"Oh don't give up that easily Spock," Lorna said. "You never know, you might not throw me in the brig the next loop!"

* * *

Lorna let the next day play out as it should have again, did have? Whatever, she was tired. She went through the entire day as if she never had before. When she was sat at her desk and staring at the panel, her heart was in her throat when she heard the banging sound.

"It's showtime," she whispered to herself. If Spock was right, if her touching the relay at the exact same time as the geomagnetic disturbance was the cause of the loop then perhaps doing it again would cancel the whole thing out? Holding the screwdriver Lorna took deep breaths. "Please work please work please work." Her hand was shaking uncontrollably as she brought the tool to the relay.

The jolt shot her clear across the floor, leaving her splayed out, down for the count and sizzling. A few minutes later she came to; "Ow?" Turning onto her side Lorna took a moment to ascertain her injuries but was interrupted by Kostas walking through the main door.

"Oh hey!" she wondered if it had worked. "Funny story… " she carried on. "I think something's in there?"

"Something? Could you be more specific?" Kostas asked as they pulled her up off the floor and led her towards one of the beds.

"I feel like my fingers are full of energy," Lorna stared at her hands as Kostas just waved a tricorder in front of her.

"You know you're going to get in trouble for this don't you…?" Kostas started but was distracted by the sound of knocking coming from the panel, Lorna tried to play along.

"I told you!" Lorna exclaimed. Kostas looked from the panel to Lorna and then back again.

"You have got to be kidding me," the Doctor exclaimed, shaking their head. "Let's find out whether or not you've done any lasting damage."

"Fingers crossed," Lorna answered, laughing fearfully.

* * *

Lorna lay on the floor behind her desk and cried, bawled, wept and howled. It hadn't worked.

* * *

All Lorna wanted to do was spend time with McCoy, the problem was as far as he was concerned he'd just been on a day shift and was tired and she was due to go on a night shift. She would suggest them doing something, anything but he'd always laugh and tell her to stop messing around, get to work. One loop she lost it with him and they had a huge row. That was the worst loop.

The next twenty loops she learnt how to play guitar and one of McCoy's favourite songs. She'd surprise him with it one day.

She read every medical journal.

She ran through the corridors naked.

Sat in the Captain's chair and refused to get out.

Stopped Crewman Barker from dumping his Girlfriend (she was the best thing that ever happened to him).

Cured a disease.

Shaved her head.

* * *

"Perhaps we are to not visit the planet at all?" Spock hypothesised. Lorna was pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers, her eyes were closed and she was sat on the floor, legs crossed and back slouched.

"What?" she replied a little too unkindly. Spock took in her countenance and creased his brow.

"Doctor, may I ask? How many times have you experienced a… loop?" Lorna looked up at him and smiled miserably.

"This will be my one hundred and fifty ninth Commander," she said. "How do I prevent the Enterprise from visiting the planet Spock? We're already heading towards it when I start a new loop."

"Then you must divert us somehow."

"I have to try to explain to you why we can't visit the planet and then you're going to just accept that and convince the Captain we change course?" Lorna looked at him as if he was a moron.

"No Doctor, you must do it yourself." Lorna stared at him incredulously.

She was going to commit mutiny!

"I'm going to steal the Enterprise?" she asked.

"Affirmative Doctor." Lorna barked with laughter.

"Well, that'll be interesting." Then a thought popped in her head. "So me messing with that panel and getting electrocuted? That doesn't have any relevance to what's happening?" she asked.

"No Doctor, that was simply illogical." Spock said as he arched a ' _judgey_ ' eyebrow her way.

"Great, thanks."

* * *

Lorna wrote a note to McCoy, it explained everything. She knew it wouldn't be long before the loop started again and he'd forget everything she'd done (that was if she wasn't successful) but still, she hated the idea of him not knowing why she'd seemingly tried to steal the Enterprise for no reason and feeling hurt and betrayed by her, not even for a moment. She gave him the biggest kiss before she left for her shift.

"What was that for?" he asked bemused, holding her in his arms lovingly.

"For being you," she answered.

"I'm no more me than usual," Lorna smiled at him.

"No, but you being you is always enough for me. It will always be enough for me." McCoy's faced straightened, something was wrong. Before he could ask Lorna flashed him a smile and left quickly.

She had very little time, if she was going to do this she had to act fast and follow Spock's instructions to the letter.

First thing first, she had to get her hands on a phaser rifle. The armoury was too heavily secured so her only option was to acquire one from another source. That's where the next phase came into play. Jogging to the transporter room she took a deep breath before walking in.

"Oh, hey Doctor Heiland." Crewman Bijal greeted her.

"Hey, how are you?" her voice sounded strained and weird.

"I'm good thanks, what are you doing here?"

"Well, funny you should ask. I was checking crew medicals and it turns out you missed your mud flea vaccine." Lorna shrugged her shoulders comically.

"My what?" the man asked.

"Not to worry though," she said ignoring his question. "I've got it with me, won't take a sec." Holding the hypospray up in front of her she closed the gap between them.

"Oh? Okay?" Lorna brought the hypospray full of sedative up to his neck.

"Sorry," she whispered and in a moment of terror Crewman Bijal heard her, knew it wasn't a vaccine and flung up his arms. It was too late though, sleeping like a baby on the floor Lorna helped herself to a phaser rifle and readied herself for the next stage of the plan.

* * *

It would have been the most, epic, coolest thing in the world for Lorna to walk down a corridor holding a phaser rifle in her hand if it wasn't for the fact that she was on her way to the Bridge where she was about to stun everybody and take over the ship. Still, she bet she looked pretty boss!

There was only one person who walked passed her and if they were surprised to see a medical doctor wielding a weapon they certainly didn't say anything. The turbolift ride was full of inspirational pep talk.

"You can do this! Just get it done! Doesn't matter if it doesn't work! You've got this! Just stun everybody and turn the ship around, easy. Remember, stun people, turn ship around." Lorna checked the rifle was on the stun setting. "That'd be awkward!" she laughed. She felt the lift come to a stop and readied herself for the door opening.

And then it did.

Lorna Heiland stunned everybody in record time (taking a couple of loops to practice her aim had been well worth it).

"So far so good." Lorna ran over to the helm and sat down, quickly tapping away and entering the new coordinates (a few more loops learning how to steer a ship had been good use of her time also). Just as she was about to confirm her order the lift door swished open and Lorna's heart sank when she saw McCoy's face.

"Lorna?!" he exclaimed. "What in the hell are you doing?!" Lorna looked down at the station beside her and the view screen showing the planet coming into view. She had run out of time.

"I can't explain Leonard! You're just going to have to trust me." She pleaded.

"Trust you!" McCoy shouted at her. "Darlin' you're committing mutiny! I read your note but..."

"I'm doing it for a very good reason!" she told him. "Please Leonard, let me do this." McCoy growled in frustration and ran his hands over his face.

"Damnit Lorna you might be sick!" Lorna sighed, he wasn't sure. She could see that he was torn, his loyalty to his Wife struggling with his loyalty to the crew. She loved him for it.

"Leonard?" she shouted, gaining his attention.

"What Lorna?" McCoy looked at her aghast.

"Would you rather…" She turned to face him, her hand going behind her back and hovering over the console. She spotted the phaser in his hand when he'd walked in. She honestly didn't know whether he'd use it on her.

"This is no time for one of your damned questions Darlin'." McCoy's finger hovered over the trigger.

"No, I suppose it isn't." In a flurry of movement Lorna slammed her hand down on the console as she fired the phaser at her Husband who simultaneously fired his phaser at his Wife. The pair fell to ground, both unconscious and neither knowing what would happen next.

* * *

Lorna dried her hair in the bathroom whilst taking in her appearance. Apart from the bags under her eyes she wasn't too displeased. Walking out to the bedroom Lorna saw McCoy hovering around the door.

"You just here for the show?" she asked teasingly.

"Perhaps," he answered smirking at her.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure I have some dinner before my shift." She told him as she pulled a uniform from the wardrobe.

"You forgot didn't you?" Lorna looked at him confused. "I told you this morning that I'd taken you off night shift, we're going to be working together for the next work pattern." Lorna dropped her uniform on the floor. Her jaw fell open and she couldn't move. "What?" McCoy asked, not knowing why she was reacting the way she was.

"What stardate is it?" she whispered.

"What? Lorna, what are you talking about?" McCoy had no idea what was going on.

"Stardate Leonard!" running form the bedroom she picked up her PADD off the table in the lounge and stared at the date.

"You mind telling me what the hell you're doing Darlin'?" McCoy's voice asked from behind her.

"It's tomorrow," she said turning to him, her eyes brimming with tears of joy. "It worked."

"Lorna, you know I think you're mad a box of frogs on any day of the week but now you're scaring me." McCoy came to stand in front of her, taking her hand he squeezed it tightly. "Is everything alright?" he asked. Laughing and crying at the same time Lorna nodded her head and then she remembered.

"You shot me!" she told him.

"What? When?" He was this close to doing a full psych exam on her.

"Never mind, it's today and that's all that matters. Interesting about the amnesia though?" She shrugged her shoulders, she was Doctor not a Physicist! "I love you," she told him before walking back to the bedroom.

"Love you too Darlin'," McCoy replied, staring at her in wonderment.

* * *

On Leonard H. McCoy's Birthday a few months later he had the most wondrous, bizarre and utterly amazing experience of having his Wife sing and play his favourite song for him. As he stood and watched in awe Kirk came to stand by him.

"I didn't know she was such a great guitarist Bones," he commented.

"Neither did I," McCoy replied stunned. "Neither did I."

The fact that her cooking had improved, she could ride a skateboard like a pro now and was one of the best marksman on the ship didn't go unnoticed either. They went unexplained but they didn't go unnoticed. But why would anybody ever be surprised at anything Lorna Heiland did? She was Lorna Heiland after all!


	19. Chapter 19

As the door opened and Lorna walked into her quarters she spotted McCoy lounging on the settee.

"Hey," she said by way of a greeting.

"Hey yourself, how was your shift?" McCoy asked, pulling himself up and putting down his book.

"Fine thanks," Lorna answered as she unzipped her boots and pulled them off with a groan.

"Fine?" McCoy repeated, fearing the worst.

"Yeah, fine." Lorna told him as she headed towards the bathroom for a shower. Jumping up he followed her into their bedroom.

"Nothing happened?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Nothing happened," Lorna chuckled before jumping in the shower leaving McCoy feeling downright peculiar. That was until he heard a crash from the bathroom, quickly followed by Lorna shouting 'I'm okay!' and then he was happy, because normal service had resumed.


	20. Chapter 20

Lorna held onto her nose, pinching the bridge to try and stop the bleeding.

"Get back in there!" she heard McCoy shout.

"He just punched me Leonard!" she shouted back, aghast at his lack of concern for her wellbeing.

"I've got good money riding on this!" Lorna stared at him incredulously. "That was a joke!" McCoy shouted quickly and then winced when her opponent took full advantage of her being distracted and picked her up over their head and flung her to the floor. The entire away team (Uhura, Sulu, Kirk, McCoy and a guy called Langford who wouldn't stop talking about how much better he felt since turning Vegetarian!) winced and made sounds akin to somebody stubbing their toe on a bed frame.

"Is she okay?" Kirk asked McCoy as the two men stood and watched Lorna turn herself onto her side and cough, dirt and dust clouding and swirling in front of her from the floor.

"She's fine," McCoy answered rather unconvincingly.

"You sure? Bones, she doesn't look…" Kirk glanced from one Doctor to the other hesitantly.

"She can do this," Uhura chimed in, hoping her positivity would rub off on Lorna in some kind of strange case of osmosis. McCoy nodded enthusiastically and Kirk just nodded. Sulu thought the whole thing was crazy. Langford really wanted a Burger.

Bargaining their way off a planet by Lorna agreeing to be in a glorified bar fight with a six foot five alien was clearly par for the course. The worrying thing was they all just accepted it as a pretty normal thing to do. In the back of her head when Lorna had proposed the idea she had expected McCoy to object, to do his usual ' _Are you out of your Goddamn mind!'_ routine. Maybe even take her place, offer to fight the alien instead of her? Defend her honour? No that wasn't right, but whatever it was! The thing where the man does it instead of the woman! Where anybody did it instead of her!

She had expected that!

Kind of sucked when he didn't and just told her to keep her left up, slapping her back as he pushed her forward.

She questioned their entire relationship in that second.

The cheering crowd leapt to their feet when Lorna pulled herself up and gave them a bloody smile, pulling her fists back up to block her face she hunkered down and shook her head, clearing the little tweety birds that were flying around in a circle above her noggin. Dodging the first punch McCoy exhaled in relief and then watched cautiously as the pair danced around one another. Lorna noticed that every time the alien jabbed with his left, he dropped his right guard. Letting him get a few good left jabs in, her jaw and ribs and bottom lip taking the brunt she saw the smile form at the corners of his mouth and knew she had him. Pride before a fall she thought to herself.

Letting him pull back his left she watched as his right faltered and that's when she landed the most iconic, jaw shattering left hook herself. Luckily for her the fella had a glass jaw and like a Lumberjack chopping down a tree Lorna wanted to shout 'Timber!' as the poor sod decked it. There was a moment of quiet shock, from Lorna, from the audience and even from the crew.

"I did it?!" Lorna shouted, her arms going up in the air and her face filled with ecstatic surprise. The room erupted into victorious applause and McCoy had never felt prouder.

* * *

"To Lorna!" Kirk toasted, all of them bringing their pints of beer up and cheering. Lorna grinned from ear to ear (as much as she could with a bruised jaw and split lip) and took a sip of her beer trying not to get the tissue sticking out of each nostril wet in the process.

"You're something else!" Kirk told her, shaking his head.

"I am something else! Don't you forget it Sir! I am something else, if it wasn't for me we wouldn't be getting out of here!" Lorna took another swig of beer triumphantly.

"If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have lost our original transport in the first place!" he countered.

"How was I supposed to know that they didn't like hugs!" Lorna laughed. "Who doesn't like hugs?!" she asked Uhura who shrugged her shoulders in response.

"You're a warrior Lorna! You're indestructible!" Sulu complimented her and Lorna smiled and agreed, telling them she hardly felt a thing. The minute Kirk, Uhura, Sulu and Langford fell into a conversation amongst themselves she slowly turned to McCoy who was sat by her side. Her face instantly morphed into pained anguish and she gripped his arm with all of her might.

"Leonard! It hurts so bad!" she whispered to him and he couldn't help but laugh.

"I thought you didn't feel a thing?" he asked amused.

"I was lying, I felt everything. It really hurts Leonard, help me!" she pleaded. "I think I broke a rib."

"Come on, let's get you fixed up." Helping her up the others asked where they were going.

"You're not ready for round two Heiland?!" Kirk said to her and Lorna grinned and held herself up.

"You bet Kirk, I could take you any day of the week." Saying their goodbyes they left the bar and as soon as they were out in the street and heading towards whatever flea infested hotel they were staying in Lorna collapsed into McCoy's arms and cried out in pain. "It hurts so much Leonard!"

"Quit being such a baby!" he told her.

"You quit being such a baby!" came her immature reply.

"You know nobody would have thought any less of you if you'd just admitted it hurt like hell," McCoy watched as she pulled the bloody tissue from her nose.

"I know, I just want you to be proud of me and not worry about me." Lorna stopped and looked up at him, sniffing and smiling wonkily at him. McCoy's hand came up to cup her cheek as he smiled back at her lovingly.

"I will always be proud of you but I will never stop worrying about you, okay?" Kissing the top her head Lorna sighed in contentment.

"Okay," she agreed.

* * *

 **Six Months Later**

"Oooo, oooooo wha." Kirk rolled his eyes. "Oooo, oooooo wha." How could one person sing the same song for so long? "Shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop ahh! Shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop ahh!"

"Could we maybe have a different song Doc?" Kirk shouted over to Lorna who was swaying as she trudged along.

"Sittin' in a native hut, all alone and blue, sittin' in a native hut, wonderin' what to do." Kirk wouldn't go as far to say that she was a bad singer…

"Clearly not…" he whispered under his breath.

"Along came a native girl, did a native dance, it was like in Paradise, put me in a trance." Lorna nearly tripped when she tried to shimmy.

"Heiland please…!" Kirk was losing it.

"Goin' shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop! Shimmy, shimmy ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop!"

"SHUT UP!" Kirk shouted and Lorna stopped suddenly and turned towards him looking genuinely upset. "Please, just, can we have a bit of quiet please, just for a bit?" Kirk asked nicely, a weird strained smile plastered on his face.

"There's no need to shout," Lorna replied quietly and then carried on walking.

Kirk could swear he could still hear her singing.

"Are you still singing?" he asked frustrated, closing the gap between them and eyeing her suspiciously.

"No," Lorna answered defensively.

"I think you are," he shot back.

"I'm really not." Lorna smiled to herself as she skipped ahead. "Goin' shimmy, shimmy ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop! Shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop! Shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop!" she sang in barely a whisper.

* * *

"Just admit it Heiland, this isn't fun." Kirk shouted out in front of him towards Lorna an hour later, who was still slogging through the marshland silently in front of him.

"You're not going to break my spirit Captain, I've told you before; glass half full," she shouted back over her shoulder, being careful not to lose one of her boots in the mire.

"We've been walking for four hours, we've barely made a dent!" Kirk's glass was shattered into a million pieces by this point. Lorna laughed, she'd been keeping their minds busy with inane questions and a running commentary of their escapade. They hadn't expected to be shot down, they hadn't expected to have to make a crash landing. They hadn't expected to have to make their way to a rendezvous point outside the militarised zone.

They hadn't expected any of it.

Still, there they were and Kirk was determined to break Lorna. What else did he have to do with his time? Plus he wanted to get her back for laughing when he lost one of his boots in the mud. She'd let him balance himself by holding onto her head with both hands but still, all's fair in love and war.

"We're making good progress Sir, I reckon we have another three hours and we'll be able to contact the ship, don't you think so?"

"That's if they don't track us down before that," Kirk retorted combatively. He wasn't wrong, their situation was pretty dicey. They had known beforehand they were going to have to possibly deal with a hostile force, the inhabitants of the planet were known to be fiercely aggressive towards any outsiders. Nevertheless they hadn't anticipated the expert marksmanship of whomever had shot them down. Kirk had been piloting so technically it had been his fault anyway.

Luckily neither of them had sustained severe injuries in the crash, a few cuts and scrapes between them. Knowing their location was dangerous they'd grabbed what they could and made a hasty exit, both them following standard protocol for evacuation.

"You ain't got nothing to worry about Doll," Lorna caught herself using her nineteen forties private eye, film noir voice and then realised she wasn't with McCoy and Kirk would have no idea why she sounded the way she did or called him 'Doll' for that matter! She found herself pouting, it was never as fun when she wasn't with her Husband.

"Pardon," she heaved a sigh of relief when he seemingly hadn't heard what she'd said.

"I said we've seen no sign of anybody Sir, they may not have sent out any recon yet?" Lorna replied positively.

"Would we even know?" Lorna rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps not but let's that not stop us shall we?" Kirk heard irritation in her voice and smiled to himself. A crack had appeared.

When the pair found themselves together a strange alchemy of personality sometimes occurred. Depending on the other, each one of their less dominant personality traits appeared. Lorna became more serious and James T less so.

With her Husband Lorna had the great fortune of being able to be exactly who she wanted; at any rate and at any cost. The unwavering trust, loyalty and respect they had for one another allowed her to embrace all facets of herself and he in turn had found the same could be said for himself.

With the Captain? Well…

"You did the advanced combat and weaponry course at the Academy didn't you Heiland?" he asked.

"No Sir, I only completed my Officer training at the Academy." Lorna knew he knew that already.

"Bones took that class with me, I broke his nose!" Kirk laughed at the memory. "Why did he do that class and not you?" Lorna bit her lip, he was feigning ignorance and she found it annoying.

"Doctor McCoy worked at Starfleet Medical at the Academy Sir, he's also command qualified Sir. He told me it was to keep you out of trouble Sir." Lorna cringed, that was a lot of 'Sirs'.

"Did he now? Well I suppose he's right." Kirk desperately wanted to see her face but the way her shoulders were hunched he could tell she was trying to keep calm with him. He'd seen that stance and heard that tone his entire life. "Bones and I were assigned the Enterprise after the Narada incident." he continued.

"You were grounded weren't you Captain?" Lorna shot over her shoulder and Kirk winced at the low blow. He should have known better not to think that McCoy wouldn't have told his Wife everything.

"A technicality…" Kirk shot back quickly, impressed by her saltiness. "What about you?"

"What about me Sir?!" Lorna stopped walking and turned on her heel. Her hands had unconsciously come to rest on her hips and she was eyeing Kirk coldly.

"Were you on a Starship before the Enterprise?" Lorna simply nodded. "Did you want to work on a ship?" Kirk realised he knew very little about Lorna Heiland.

"My commission was reactivated..." Blue eyes bore into brown suspiciously and Kirk's interest was piqued.

"Reactivated? Did you choose to go on a five year mission?" Kirk creased his brow in confusion.

"Sorry what?" Lorna pretended not to have heard him.

"You said you were reactivated?"

"Did I?" Kirk crossed his arms in frustration as Lorna turned her back on him and shaded her eyes from the sun, looking into the distance.

"Yes! How did you end up on the Enterprise Lorna?" She knew he was losing his cool because he used her first name, he only ever did that when they were sat round the dinner table and McCoy and her would gang up on him (it was just so easy).

"Seemed like a good idea at the time. Sir." Lorna smiled tightly. She figured she'd been just the right amount of confusing for him to not really come to any kind of conclusion. Kirk made a mental note to access her records when they were back on the Enterprise.

Lorna picked her foot up to turn back around but she'd been stood in one spot for too long and the thing didn't budge. Trying again she lost her footing completely and fell back into the marsh, all but submerging in the muddy brown water. Kirk grabbed hold of her hands immediately and pulled her up where she spluttered and coughed, wiping the mud from her eyes and breathing erratically from the shock of the cold water.

"You okay?" he asked after a minute, wiping her cheeks himself instinctively.

"No!" she shouted back, batting his hands away and Kirk couldn't help but laugh. "Don't laugh at me!" she scolded him.

"I'm not laughing at you!" Kirk did his best to sound like he was telling the truth.

"You are! Goddamnit this is your fault!" flapping her arms by her side she sprayed droplets of mud across Kirk's uniform. She sounded like Bones.

"My fault?! Come on Doc…"

"Don't 'come on Doc' me!" Lorna interrupted him with a wagging finger. "You've been winding me up for the past hour!" she was dripping head to toe in mud, holding her arms out by her side she couldn't help the shiver that violently racked her whole body. "Honestly I don't know how Leonard does it…!"

Now Kirk felt bad.

"Come on Doc…" He really hadn't intended on repeating himself.

Lorna did the only thing she could think of, she pushed him. She pushed Captain Kirk. Kirk instinctively grabbed hold of the closest thing to him to try and prevent him from falling, and that turned out to be Lorna. Both crashed to the ground, Lorna landing on top of Kirk.

"Don't move," she said as she spread herself over him, tucking her head into his neck. Kirk was taken aback to say the least.

"What? Lorna I…" he stopped talking when she planted her muddy hand over his face.

"Shh, UAV above us." She whispered hoping the cold mud she was covered in would camouflage them both. Kirk did as he was told and didn't move an inch. Seeing for himself the object fly above them between Lorna's splayed fingers. "Has it gone?" she asked a while later.

"No," he whispered back. The pair stayed rigid for what felt like an hour, Kirk's arm had gone dead from the weight of Lorna above him and the warmth of his neck was putting Lorna to sleep. "Don't fall asleep," he whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm," came her contented reply.

"Lorna!" he hissed.

"I'm awake I promise, has it gone?" she asked again.

"Yeah I think so, come on. We need to get a move on." Helping each other up all other thoughts and conversations were forgotten about as the pair trudged on.

* * *

She suggested they play Marco Polo but that hadn't gone down so well.

* * *

"Sun?"

"No."

"Swamp?"

"No."

"Sky?"

"Yes! Your turn." Lorna said and smiled as she gave Kirk a thumbs up.

"Eye spy with my little eye…"

* * *

"Do you have any siblings Doc?" Kirk asked.

"A Brother, you?"

"The same." Well this conversation was going nowhere fast!

* * *

"Maybe the mud will be good for our skin?" Lorna mused as she grabbed hold of Kirk's arm for support.

"Speak for yourself," Kirk quipped.

"We're all getting older Captain," he scoffed in response.

"Yeah well, I plan on living forever." They were nearly at the rendezvous point, there'd been no further altercations or slips, trips and falls but the sun had dried the mud on them and both had found themselves pulling strange faces to crack the dirt on their cheeks. Lorna was desperately hungry and had been planning her meal for the past twenty minutes whilst Kirk just wanted to go to bed.

"Would you rather live to be one hundred years old not knowing anything or live to eighteen knowing everything?" she asked him.

"I wouldn't learn anything?" kirk asked.

"No, I mean you'd be born with all knowledge but only live to eighteen or you learn as you go and live to one hundred." Lorna clarified.

"Most people already do that Doc?" Kirk replied and Lorna shook her head.

"Yeah you're right, that was a rubbish question. Sorry." She apologised and Kirk smiled.

"No need to apologise," he replied amused.

"I'm tired, let me try again."

"Okay," kirk waited expectantly.

"Would you rather…"

"Yes?" Lorna shot him a look telling him not to interrupt.

"Be a…" she was really struggling.

"Yes?" Kirk strung out.

"Stop it!"

"Then finish your sentence!"

"I would if you didn't keep interrupting me!" Lorna was so tired. Kirk raised his brows but said nothing. "Would you rather be covered in mud or swarmed by bugs?" she asked, her eyes going wide. Kirk saw her expression change but didn't quite put two and two together.

"What? Doc I don't get it…" Lorna took hold of his shoulders and manually turned him so he was looking in the same direction as her.

Yeah, those were pretty big bugs! A swarm of goodness knows what was heading towards them, fast.

"RUN!" Kirk shouted, setting off in a messy sprint. The winged monsters surrounded them, the buzzing sounding as loud a jackhammer in their ears.

"THIS IS TERRIFYING!" Lorna screamed as they carried on running.

"I KNOW!" Kirk shouted back, changing direction and heading towards some trees. The swarm seemed to head in a different direction and both Kirk and Lorna found themselves jumping up and down, swatting off the bugs that had attached themselves to their uniforms and altogether freaking out. "Are they all off?" Kirk asked, turning round frantically.

"Yes, me?" Lorna asked, doing the same thing. Kirk nodded and then noticed one in her hair. Slapping the side of her head really hard Lorna looked at Kirk in horror. "Ow! What the hell!" she shouted at him.

"There was one in your hair!" he answered defensively.

"There better had of been!" giving him the side eye Lorna looked around them. "This sucks!" she finally said.

"Aha!" Kirk exclaimed, pointing his finger at her. "I knew you'd break eventually." His apparent victory didn't feel as good as he had hoped. Putting a friendly arm round her shoulder Kirk gave her a squeeze. "Come on, we'll be fine. Let's get back before Bones has an aneurism." Lorna couldn't help but laugh.

"He'll be going mental right about now," she agreed as they carried on walking.

"I know, his two favourite people stuck on a planet."

"You're infuriating Captain," the words came out before she had time to think.

"You're no cake walk yourself Doc." Kirk smiled, enjoying the camaraderie.

* * *

The rendezvous point was on dry land thankfully, didn't matter that much though, it had started raining half an hour ago. Kirk opened a channel with the Enterprise.

"What the hell took you so long?!" came the booming voice of McCoy in response. Kirk rolled his eyes and Lorna nearly burst out crying but they both laughed silently knowing he had probably been going out of his mind and picking a fight with everybody.

"We didn't exactly take the scenic route Bones," Kirk replied. "Do you mind beaming us up?" he asked sweetly. They both heard angry mumbling before the tell-tale signs of the transporter locking onto them began to make their skin tingle. Just before they disappeared Lorna caught Kirk's attention.

"You look like shit," she said grinning at him.

"Speak for yourself Doc."

* * *

"I will never cheat on you," Lorna exclaimed as she appeared from the bathroom after her three hour shower! Hair wrapped in a towel and oversized pyjamas slightly damp, McCoy held out his arm ready for a hug from his favourite person.

"Glad to hear it," McCoy replied amused. "May I ask why you're telling me this?" he looked at her seriously. Lorna sat herself beside him and took a gulp of the Whiskey he'd poured for her, savouring the feel of his arm round her shoulders.

"Because everybody else is terrible and you're perfect." She told him.

"The Kid's a lot isn't he Darlin'." Lorna nodded by way of an answer.

"I know which side my toast is buttered on Leonard."

"Bread," he corrected.

"What? Oh, no I'm pretty sure it's toast." McCoy laughed. "I mean honestly, at this point I don't think I could even be bothered getting to know someone like that you know?" Lorna picked at the thread on her pyjamas, completely unaware of the look on McCoy's face as he sat and listened to her.

"That's what's stopping you?" He had no idea where this conversation was going.

"I've just never had a conversation with anybody or seen anybody where I thought 'yeah you know what, that could work'. They've always been annoying or insensitive or not as handsome." Lorna sat up to look at McCoy, he was giving her his 'heavy eyes with desire' look. "You're not even listening to me are you?" she asked. "I'm giving you a compliment Leonard, a pretty big one at that. I'm basically telling you nobody else compares and you're just looking at me like 'what is she saying?' and 'huh, I really fancy a grilled cheese right about now'."

"You're just going to make me more insufferable you know that don't you?" he told her and Lorna grinned.

"Yeah but I like telling you the truth so…" McCoy turned himself so he could kiss her and when she felt his arms going around her and under her legs to pick her up she giggled. "What are you doing Leonard?" she asked feigning ignorance.

"I was planning on giving you a full physical Darlin'." McCoy purred.

"Ugh! Leonard, that was terrible!" Lorna laughed.

"What? That's a solid line!" McCoy argued.

"That's a tacky line, that's what that is."

"It worked didn't it?" McCoy decided to double down and carry on picking her up and making his way to the bedroom.

"I'll let you know."

* * *

 **The Following Day**

Lorna sat staring at nothing, her chin rested in the palm of her hand and her elbow was propped on the desk. She had been huffing her breath out loudly for the past half hour causing the entertaining fluttering of her fringe.

Pushing her chair back she went to get up but just ended up banging her thigh into the side of the desk. Sucking her teeth and swearing under her breath she rubbed the quickly forming bruise and tried to comprehend why she wasn't capable of the simple act of 'getting up from a chair'. Going to the stock cupboard she pulled all the blankets off the shelf and started to fold them again. After all this time she still found herself filling her time doing the same old things. Blankets folded she had a nap, popping in her earbuds and listening to some country music. Waking up with drool all over her cheek wasn't the most attractive thing in the world but at least nobody had come in. Using the back of her hand to wipe her cheek Lorna paused the music and looked around the bay, scrunching up her mouth to one side she wondered what she could do next.

Beginning to tap her feet she started dancing from one foot to the other.

"I'm singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again. I'm laughin' at clouds, so dark up above, the sun's in my heart, and I'm ready for love." Arms outstretched she spun around and pushed herself off the beds for a big finish. "Let the stormy clouds chase, everyone from the place, come on with the rain I've a smile on my face. I'll walk down the lane, with a happy refrain. Just singin', singin' in the rain!" With her big finish Lorna threw in some solid jazz hands before bowing to her adoring audience.

"Dancin' in the rain, da da da da da da!" Lorna gasped and spun on her heel, seeing McCoy standing behind her. Taking hold of her hand he began spinning her round the bay, throwing in quite an impressive array of tap dance moves. "I'm happy again, I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain," Taking her in his arms McCoy expertly dipped her as they danced and he sang. "I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain!" Coming to a standstill McCoy bowed in her direction.

"I'm a bad influence on you," she told him, beaming.

"You're the best influence on me," he countered which made her beam even more.

"I love you," Lorna told him as she smushed herself into his chest and hugged him tightly.

"Love you too Darlin'."


	21. Chapter 21

"What are you doing?" McCoy asked looking over Lorna's shoulder as she scribbled away with her stylus.

"I'm designing our garden," she told him without looking up.

"Our garden?" McCoy repeated.

"Yes, our garden." Lorna peered up at him. "We're not having a garden?" He shrugged his shoulders in way that Lorna understood to mean that it was the first time he'd thought of it and he didn't really feel one way or another.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to a corner of her drawing.

"The vegetable patch," she told him scribbling in a few cauliflowers and cucumbers.

"Huh?"

"You haven't thought about these things?" Lorna asked him, suddenly aware that their entire relationship and marriage had taken place on a ship and who knew if they could sustain it on land?! Would the gravity make a difference? They'd been on shore leave together? It would be fine…

"I haven't ' _not_ ' thought about these things," he told her.

"And…?" she pushed.

"And," he stopped, not quite knowing what to say. It was a lot to think about. "I thought that's where the chickens would go?" he finally settled upon.

"Chickens?" Lorna creased up her brow in confusion.

"Yeah, chickens. Don't you want fresh eggs every morning?" A look of yet to come happiness appeared on McCoy's face at the idea of two sunny side up eggs being served to him every morning.

"I suppose I do, I'll make room for the chickens." She told him as she scrubbed out a patch of the drawing and drew a chicken.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A chicken," she told him annoyed that it wasn't apparent. McCoy laughed.

"Don't laugh at my chicken Leonard, Betty is going to be working hard making all those eggs you want."

"Betty?"

"You got a better name?"

"Miss Emily," McCoy replied a little too quickly.

"Miss Emily?" Lorna repeated trying not to smirk.

"You got a problem with Miss Emily?" He actually sounded offended.

"No no, Miss Emily is just perfect. In fact, why don't I leave you in charge of naming all the animals?"

"All?"

"Miss Emily may get lonely all on her own, don't you think?" Lorna took McCoy's hand and squeezed it gently.

"I'm a Doctor not a Vet Darlin'," he told her good humouredly before kissing the top of her head and walking away.

* * *

There'd been a nasty explosion in Engineering and Lorna had spent much of her day, if not more so patching up the poor sods who'd had the displeasure of being within the vicinity. Crewman Treen had been particularly bad and Lorna's heart bled for the young lad clearly scared out of his wits when he'd been dragged in by another Officer.

"Hey," she said, catching the Crewman's attention as she went about patching him up. "Are you listening to me?" Crewman Treen's eyes flickered back onto Lorna and she smiled at him warmly before asking her question again. "What's your favourite ice cream flavour?" she asked. Treen looked at her puzzled but thought about the question nonetheless.

"Umm, mint choc chip?" He told her, Lorna carried on treating his injuries but leant in ever so slightly so that she could whisper in his ear.

"You're a monster," she told him.

"What's wrong with mint choc chip?" he asked.

"What's right? That's what you need to be asking." She told him sternly.

"Well, what about you? What's your favourite?" Without missing a beat Lorna gave her answer.

"Pecan," she told him in way that made it evident to Treen that there could be no other choice in the Doctor's opinion. "No wait, Pistachio!" Treen laughed. "Any nut basically," she added. "Except Peanut… Ugh!" Lorna pulled a face at the very thought of peanut.

"You can't choose more than one." Treen told her.

"Who said?!"

"You did, when you asked me the question." Treen was finding it hard to keep up but he was just thankful for the distraction.

"Yeah well, don't trust a word I say. I'm not even a qualified Doctor! Just sneaked my way on here and found a uniform." Lorna looked at him seriously until she saw Treen's mouth open ever so slightly. "I'm joking Crewman."

"Are you?" he laughed, still not quite sure.

"I hope so, otherwise I currently have no idea what I'm doing!" She held the dermal regenerator up in the air that she'd been using on his arm and looked at it quizzically.

* * *

After treating numerous other Officers Lorna thought to herself that most people made it through their careers without really seeing the true dangers of what they did and where they were and where they went. Some were less fortunate and as Lorna finished up Crewman Treen's notes on her PADD she ensured he'd be seen by the ship counsellor as a matter of urgency.

"You done?" looking up she took in McCoy's dishevelled appearance.

"Nearly," she answered as she continued to tap away. McCoy crossed the room and stood by her side. "Standing over me isn't going to make this go any faster Leonard," she told him and she heard him chuckle.

"Come on, we've done enough." Hauling her out of her chair Lorna let him direct her towards the main bay door.

"Wait!" she told him as she pulled herself from his grasp. "I just need to tell Kostas something." McCoy tried not to roll his eyes as he stood and waited for his Wife. She cared too much sometimes, as far as he was concerned at any rate. A certain level of detachment was good for a Doctor he believed but he couldn't fault her as a Physician, she was better than he was in many ways. As she skipped back towards him she gave him a wide smile and hooked her arm back through his. "Proceed," she said as the pair left.

"Whiskey?" he asked and she nodded as they walked down the corridor. "Steak stew?" he asked and again Lorna nodded. "Dirty Harry?" he asked and Lorna rolled her eyes.

"Again?" she whined.

"You've got to ask yourself one question…?" McCoy started in his best Eastwood impression but Lorna cut him off.

"Fine, fine." She conceded. "But I'm picking next time."

"Deal."

"I'm having the first shower," she told him in no uncertain terms.

"We could just have a shower together?" McCoy suggested. "Save time?"

"Really? You think that's happening?" Lorna asked, God loves a trier!

"Worth a shot," with a shrug of his shoulders McCoy pushed Lorna in the corridor so that she bounced off the wall.

"Leonard!" she shouted at him.

(He was always pushing her into things, on the way to work, in the mess. Nobody ever seemed to notice him doing it just Lorna seemingly tripping and falling into the wall. Once he did it when they were both stood on the Bridge, he hadn't expected her to end up grabbing the sleeve of Kirk's uniform to keep upright and the colour of her cheeks matched Uhura's uniform! It was just too funny. He'd also got in on the act of scaring her, hiding round corners and behind doors. So it came to pass that Lorna couldn't trust anybody on the ship, including her Husband and every day she would find herself against a wall, on the floor or screaming at the top of her lungs at the most inappropriate moments).

McCoy just laughed and then laughed some more when she tried to do the same thing to him but he didn't budge. When they got into the turbolift Lorna tried kicking the back of his knee so that his leg went from under him but again he was too fast and all she ended up achieving was being pushed into the wall again.

"You suck," she told him.

"I'm not the one who can't walk in a straight line." McCoy countered.

"You push me!"

"Come on, if you don't hold my hand you start veering off to the right." McCoy's eyes were twinkling with mischief.

"And whose fault is it that I don't hold your hand anymore?" Lorna pointed her finger at him and he held up his hands in surrender.

"I apologised for that!" he retorted.

"And I told you I refuse your apology." Lorna crossed her arms in a huff.

(So, what happened is every time Lorna held hands with McCoy on her left he'd drop his shoulder so that it felt longer than when she held hands with him on her right side. He convinced her that one of her arms was shorter than the other, even when she asked him to swear he was messing with her. For days she thought one arm was shorter than the other until she asked Nurse Vallo to measure her! Yeah, that hadn't gone down well… (McCoy still found it funny, which irritated Lorna even more but he didn't care, it was funny and it had totally been worth it as far as he was concerned.))

McCoy eventually pushed Lorna into their quarters and groaned when he finally pulled off his boots. It had been a long day and he was just glad that he was ending it with her. He heard her plop onto the bed with a thump.

"Don't go to sleep!" he shouted at her through the doorway.

"I won't!" she answered, as if the idea was absurd.

"You will! Get up, now!" he shouted back.

"UGH," Lorna peeled herself off the bed and sulked as she went to the bathroom. It didn't matter, she'd be asleep soon enough. Whenever they watched a film they'd always start by sitting next to one another, slowly but surely she'd scoot down and either lay her head on a cushion or in his lap. She'd be asleep within minutes, McCoy would check on her and she'd be just awake enough to pretend to still be watching the film but they both knew she wasn't. It was a strange façade they both kept up but neither really minded.

* * *

Lorna sat mesmerised at her desk, PADD stood up in front of her and a colossal bowl of exceptional hummus half eaten to her right. Her eyes had glassed over and she was silently murmuring the words of the characters on screen.

 _"Perhaps I didn't always love him as well as I do now, but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable."_ She could rattle off the lines in her sleep, having watched the ancient adaptation of one of her favourite books a million times. It was a comfort blanket to Lorna, McCoy had lost count of the amount of times he'd come back to their quarters and found Lorna asleep with a PADD still in hand playing one episode or another. _"It's been coming on so gradually, I hardly know. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley!"_ She loved that line! Using her last piece of pitta to scoop up way too much extraordinary hummus she shoved the whole thing in her mouth.

Her Regency bubble was burst however when the primary lighting went off and secondary life support was activated. Looking up at the ceiling, mouth still full and seeing the red hue bleed from the fascia's Lorna pursed her lips in contemplation. Sitting quietly she waited for the inevitable ship wide communication explaining the reason why; hostile force, bad weather etc. but when none came Lorna's face scrunched up even more. What had just happened? Her hand hovered over her comm badge just as the lights flickered back on. Huh? Must have been a glitch or Engineering carrying out maintenance Lorna thought to herself, they always forgot to tell her! Speaking of unexpected emergency power outages, Lorna was hungry (even she knew that made no sense). Making her way over to the replicator she stared at the thing absentmindedly, she had no idea what she wanted. McCoy had banned her from hummus (I know! Right!) citing that if she continued to consume her weight in glorious, life changing hummus she would metamorphosis into a literal chickpea. She turned and looked guiltily at the bowl of 'I'll never let go hummus, I mean Jack, I mean hummus' hummus on her desk and reminded herself to get rid of the evidence of her betrayal before McCoy came in to work.

Cupcakes were no longer her friend (look, you get to a certain age and you can't just eat what you want any more alright! Sure, you can treat yourself from time to time but ultimately your body tells you very quickly, especially your waistband, that you may want to watch what's going in because the vast majority isn't going out but taking up residence on your hips). There were positives, like her rack looked amazing, still… When Lorna had expressed her wish to take care of herself a little better to McCoy and that meant _'everything'_ reducing in size she laughed to the point of tears when he asked her if there was any way she could exercise but keep _'the Girls'_! She'd reminded him he was a Doctor and that he knew already that's not how it works but he had continued to sulk for the rest of the day nevertheless.

So, that's how she found herself ordering fruit and that's when the replicator spat something out more akin to vomit.

"Ew," Lorna said quietly, watching as the goo slowly spilled over the side of the replicator and dripped and splattered onto the floor. She felt like it was a sign that she should never order fruit again but knew that was just wishful thinking on her part. Tapping her comm badge she tried to open a channel to Engineering, no such luck. "Is everything on the fritz?" she asked herself as she turned back and looked around the med bay.

She thought back to her mission continuity training, there were certain things she was supposed to do she was sure of it?! She knew that the Bridge would be identifying the critical areas of the ship and the resources needed to maintain them, they'd be prioritising the recovery efforts but she just didn't know where she was on the list.

Lorna decided to stay put, she'd only get in the way and what would happen when they turned up to sick bay and she wasn't there?

Nothing worked, her PADDs, some of the medical equipment, even the atmospheric controls seemed to have gone offline. Was it just her or was it getting warm in there?!

She was on her own.

"In nineteen seventy two, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire The A-Team." Lorna actually made herself laugh. "Be serious for minute," she told herself as she picked chickpea out of her teeth and gums with her finger.

She was such a Lady!

Fanning her face with her hand she went about going through the contingency process, when she'd flicked all the switches and basically made sure she could still save somebody's life if need be Lorna definitely knew it was getting warmer. Her cheeks were blushed red and her fringe had begun to stick to her forehead, she kept blowing it off with a huff of breath but she was fighting a losing battle.

"Why's it so warm in here?" She decided to put some scrubs on, they were a much lighter material and the short sleeves would certainly make her feel cooler.

Grabbing a pair she went to one of the private examination rooms but the door didn't open.

"For crying out loud!" A little voice in her head told her to check the main door, which she did and of course it wouldn't open. "Right, okay, that's fine." Lorna shook her head and smiled. "No need to worry, perfectly fine, everything is perfectly… fine."

Yeah, it wasn't though was it.

Lorna figured that if the main door wouldn't open and she couldn't go into any of the private rooms she'd have to crouch behind one of the beds and quickly get changed, which she did managing to fall over twice and panic when the top got stuck over her head. That's just what she needed, for Engineering or whoever to come barging through the door just when her arse was hanging out. Standing up she made sure everything was in its place and then double checked again that the comms wasn't working, any PADDs or the replicator for that matter. Ten minutes went by and then for no reason at all she banged away on the main door, shouting if anybody could hear her.

It was getting seriously hot!

Lights and systems kept turning on and off again of their own accord.

"Jeffries tubes!" Lorna shouted, remembering there was a way out. The access hatch wouldn't open but there was a manual override, Lorna didn't try it just yet though. Thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be too long. What kind of crazy person would escape through a Jeffries tube after twenty minutes?!

"Me?" Lorna said out loud. "No, wait it out." She admonished herself. Sitting at her desk she tried not to focus on how hungry and thirsty she was, she'd already polished off the last of the enigmatic hummus. (Was licking the bowl too far? She didn't think so, it was a matter of survival let's be honest.) Why hadn't she brought a snack or something?! McCoy always put out an apple before he left for his shift, sometimes it was a Satsuma and he'd draw a silly face on it. That day it had been a banana, she hated bananas. He knew she couldn't eat anything phalic shaped.

Pushing her hair back off of her forehead she let her head loll back, a little too far it turned out because her chair careened back and before she knew what had happened Lorna was a pile of limbs on the floor. Scrambling back up she kicked the chair, as if it was the fault of the inanimate object and not her predilection for accidents. Limping over she tried the door again, still nothing. Enough was enough, she was getting out of there! What had it been? Twenty five minutes! Perhaps she would just have a lie down first, she'd kind of hurt her ankle when she fell and it had made her feel sick. Lying down on one of the beds she wafted her top up and down to try and get some air against her skin. She was a hot mess, literally and figuratively. Then good old imagination came a knockin' and her mind began to race with the possibilities of what may have happened.

The ship had been taken over by a hostile force.

All the crew had disappeared.

Life support was failing and she'd suffocate to death and they'd find her there a shrivelled grape.

The rest of the ship had been blown apart and she was just in a carcass listlessly spiralling through space to eventually burn up in a sun's atmosphere.

Had she knocked the thermostat?

"This sucks…" Her thoughts went to McCoy, she hoped he was alright. Lorna didn't do very well thinking about her Husband in dicey situations, it made her worry too much. Anxiety had been her tried and trusted friend for a long time, McCoy had introduced another facet to her sometimes legitimate sometimes tenuous fears. Like steps, or crowds, or food on sticks. All legitimate fears.

A light reflected on the wall beside her so she tried making hand puppet silhouettes, her dog was pretty good, as was the bird but that was about it. She remembered they had cooling packs in the store cupboard, jumping up she jogged over to grab some. Even if she had to cover her entire body in the things she didn't care. Sticking one on her forehead Lorna sighed in relief, she felt so much better. She stuck a couple more in her bra for good measure. She was done, Jeffries tubes here she came. Using the manual override Lorna pulled the leaver out of the access hatch, getting a good grip on the handle she went to push the thing right.

"Come on!" she said through gritted teeth when the thing didn't budge. Putting all of her weight behind the thing she tried again, having the upper body strength of a toddler wasn't helping her to say the least. Sitting back and panting she stared at the thing and then rolled her eyes and made a tutting sound when she noticed the arrow instructed her to turn it left.

"I mean the signs not that clear…" even she knew the sign was perfectly clear and fine.

(She'd drank way too much tea as well! She had a bladder the size of a toddler and she'd drank too much tea! (Her bladder wasn't the size of a toddler, she had a toddler sized bladder. Not that's not right! Her bladder was the same size of that of a toddler. A toddler's bladder.))

Again, getting a good grip she pushed it left, toppling over when the leaver moved easily and the hatch opened. Looking inside she took a deep breath before crawling in, the things weren't small small but they didn't feel great either. On her hands and knees Lorna set off, just trying to get to another deck or anywhere she could escape.

"Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..." Lorna scrambled forward until she reached another access hatch. When it didn't open Lorna huffed, swore, complained to herself about her sore knees and hands and then carried on. She felt like she'd crawled the length and breadth of the ship and not one access hatch seemed to be working! The thought only occurred to her after she'd opened the first one in sick bay that maybe using the manual override wasn't a good idea since maybe there was no ship on the other side?!

She collapsed on her front, panting and feeling sorry for herself. These things went on forever! Turning so that she was lying on her back she let herself have a well-earned break, staring at the ceiling. She noticed that her boobs sagged to the side more than they used to.

"Well that's depressing," she muttered. She tried pushing them back together but they didn't stay. For a while she just smacked her lips together, making a sound akin to a Goldfish eating fish flakes that sat on the surface of a fishbowl. "To be, or not to be, that is the question!" Lorna held her arms out in front of her dramatically. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles. And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep, no more." She was really going for it now. "And by a sleep to say we end. The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks. That flesh is heir to 'tis a consummation. Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream, ay, there's the rub. For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil…"

What came next?

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil…" she tried again but for the life of her she couldn't remember what came next! "Damnit!"

She couldn't go to sleep in a Jeffries tube could she?

No.

Maybe?

No!

Lorna scrambled on, not sure how much more she could take. She'd completely lost her bearings and had no idea where she was as well, with a sigh she saw another access hatch coming up and silently prayed that it would open. Coming to a stop in front of it her hand tentatively hovered over the panel. Wait! Had she been opening all the others properly? She'd been pulling the leaver left right? Ha! Left right!

"Please please please," she whispered as she brought her hand down. With a gush and somewhat theatrical puff of smoke the panel opened and Lorna shouted out with joy. "GET IN!" Tumbling out she peered around her, working out where she was on the ship. Turned out she was in the mess and as she came to stand up all eyes turned to her. Lorna was hot and sweaty, out of breath and had a cooling pack stuck to her head (not to mention the two in her bra). Lorna looked at the confused faces in front of her and scrunched her own up in response.

"I take it there's no attack?" she asked the closest person to her who silently shook their head. "Huh?" Noticing a jug of water on one of the tables Lorna made a beeline and grabbed a cup. "You don't mind do you?" she asked rhetorically as she poured herself a glass of water and chugged down the entire thing, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and breathing heavily.

"Are you alright?" a Crewman asked her.

"I was stuck in the sick bay, did anybody know I was stuck?" she asked him a little abruptly. When he shook his head Lorna looked around the still captivated mess hall. "Did anybody know I was in the sick bay?" she asked at the top of her voice to which there was an eerie silence in response. It reminded Lorna of the old Westerns McCoy watched where a tumbleweed rolls through an abandoned town. "Nobody?" she repeated.

"I think Engineering were doing some trials?" a faceless voice replied after a moment.

"Were they? Were they now? Well isn't that nice for them, would have been nice for me to know! Would have been nice for me to be able to leave the sick bay, not via a Jeffries tube but you know?! The normal way!" Lorna's hands were erratically flailing around as she spoke.

She felt faint.

"I feel faint," she said a second later. "I need to sit down," little spots of light danced in her vision. Swaying back and forth it was pure luck that she ended up tipping in the direction of Ensign Fernandez-alvarez (who was built like a brick shit house) who caught Lorna before she decked it.

The ensuing activity was… curious and fascinating in equal measure. She was conscious again in a matter of seconds but Kostas had been there and they'd stopped her from legging it and insisted she go to the Med Bay. "I'm fine really," she told Kostas as she sat on the floor looking pale and sweaty.

"Uh huh, whatever you say." Kostas replied. Lorna rolled her eyes but had to admit she wasn't going anywhere fast, seeing McCoy appear through the crowd made her feel worse. She hated seeing that look on his face.

"Damnit Woman!" he whispered to her as he knelt down.

"Don't…" she started.

"I will!" he ground out. "You're going to put me in an early grave."

"How much life insurance do I have out on you?" Lorna joked but very quickly went quiet when McCoy's face told her he wasn't in the mood for joking around.

* * *

"Hey Darlin'," Lorna blinked her eyes a few times and looked around her, when she saw McCoy stood beside the bed she was currently occupying looking down at her sympathetically she smiled lopsidedly back at him.

"Hey," she replied, struggling to sit up.

"Well this is a new one, I've got to say…" McCoy couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself, his mood seemingly improved from earlier.

"Leonard!" Lorna looked at him astonished. "They forgot about me!" she told him.

"Lorna, they sent a communication to all medical staff…" Lorna was already shaking their head.

"No they didn't," she told him vehemently. "Absolutely not!" McCoy pulled a PADD off the shelf beside them.

"I said yesterday when I got back I'd see you on Deck seven…" That was it, that was when he saw the realisation in her eyes. He desperately wanted to make a joke but he knew well enough when it was the right time with Lorna and this wasn't the right time.

"I don't think I saw the message?" Even she knew she sounded ridiculous.

"Do you remember now?" he asked her quietly.

"Yes," it was barely a whisper. "Sonofabitch," shaking her head she covered her face with her hands. "I completely forgot Leonard."

"No harm done," putting a hand on her shoulder McCoy waited for her to look up at him. "Come now, you're fine, it was an easy mistake to make." Lorna laughed sadly.

"No it isn't but thank you for saying so."

"You followed the continuity process!" McCoy tossed her a bone.

"I did!" Lorna took it gladly.

"So, not an all-out loss?" he tussled her hair lovingly.

"You're the best you know that," she told him.

"Yeah Darlin', I know." Giving her a wink McCoy walked away hearing his wonderful, ludicrous Wife laugh behind him.

* * *

 _ **I am beyond happy that you've all enjoyed this story so much! Thank you to each and every one of you who've followed, favourited and reviewed! LLAP ;-) XOXO**_


	22. Prequel

_Brrring, brrring, brrring, brrring._

Looking over at the screen on her phone Lorna stared at the name being displayed. She knew nothing good would come of her answering it so she returned her attention back to the pile of PADDs in front of her.

 _Brrring, brrring, brrring, brrring._

"Get the message Chris," she mumbled as she picked up her coffee and took a sip. Missing her mouth altogether and pouring it down her front Lorna swore and wiped her stained blouse messily with her hands.

 _Brrring, brrring, brrring, brrring._

Glaring at the phone again Lorna willed it to stop, eventually turning it over and covering it with her discarded cardigan which just resulted in a dull vibrating sound more annoying than the shrill ring of before. When it did stop she let out a huff and tried to refocus knowing it would be no good. The fact that he had rung wasn't going to go away, she wondered how long it would be before he turned up on her doorstep.

* * *

"Well that didn't take long at all," Lorna greeted Chris Pike a week later.

"Hey Lor, how you doing?" Chris gave her a smile, a quick peck on the cheek and walked passed her, surveying the large office and the chaos of her desk in the centre. "I see you're still as organised as ever." He said, turning back to her to see that her hands were on her hips and she was eyeing him suspiciously.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure Chris?" Lorna asked, letting her door close and walking back round her desk to sit down.

"Aren't you going to offer me a drink?" Chris asked bemused. "Or a chair?"

"I don't think you'll be here that long do you?" Lorna answered as she sat back in her own chair, too far seemingly because the next thing she knew her arms and legs were flailing and she was grabbing hold of the edge of her desk to stay upright. Chris said nothing, knowing already Lorna's propensity for mishaps. Regaining her composure Lorna quickly stood and went to the replicator, "Your usual?" she asked and Chris nodded. Ordering a grass juice she handed it to Chris.

"You remembered," he smiled.

"How could I forget," scrunching up her nose at the smell Lorna crossed her arms in front of her and gave Chris a look telling him that he needed to start talking.

"You being keeping out of trouble?" he asked and they both knew what he meant.

"I have, locked myself in my own closet the other day but apart from that it's been pretty quiet."

"I want you on my ship Lorna," he started and Lorna scoffed loudly.

"I'm retired Chris, you know that."

"A technicality," he replied and Lorna rolled her eyes. Indicating to him that he should follow her they made their way over to a low set sofa and the pair sat down.

"A fact, retired, pensioned off, no longer an Officer of Starfleet." He hadn't changed much as far as she could see, a few extra wrinkles round the eyes but apart from that he was the same old Christopher as far as she was concerned. The same old Christopher she had ran into (literally but that's another story) all those years ago on the USS Chatelet.

"And whose fault is that?" Chris countered, pulling Lorna from her recollections.

"Yours?" Lorna told him nonchalantly.

"I still can't believe you think it was my fault!" Chris laughed. "You treated those people against orders," shaking his head he took a sip of the grass juice and set his glass down.

"A technicality," Lorna countered, repeating his earlier statement to her.

"You did the right thing," Chris leant towards her, taking her hand in his he squeezed it lovingly. Since the moment they'd met he had always been very fond of Lorna Heiland.

"I know I did the right thing," Lorna replied, realising that she'd missed her friendship with Christopher Pike more than she realised. "Starfleet didn't see it that way though…"

"You did go against the prime directive Lorna," Chris pointed out. "We all did." Lorna waved a dismissive hand between them.

"Prime directive, shmime directive." Chris laughed out loud at Lorna's sullen look. "We were supposed to just sit there and let an entire planet die out because _'they would see a spaceship and get all freaked out'?!_ " Lorna air quoted the last part which made Chris laugh even more.

"Real mature!"

"You didn't do too bad out of it, got a promotion from what I remember. The others as well? Hatton is a Chief Engineer now isn't he?" Raising her eyebrows at him Lorna watched as Chris winced. "Yeah, you better feel bad." She was joking of course, they both knew that.

"The promotion wasn't directly associated Lor and you should never have taken all the blame," Chris took her hand. "You should never have retired…" Lorna stood up and began pacing up and down.

"We've been over this Chris, is that what you came here for? To go over old ground? Tell me about you, what are you up to?" Lorna gave him a bright smile and the clear signal to drop the current topic of conversation.

"You shouldn't have taken the fall for all of us damnit, we all decided it was the right thing to do." Chris mumbled to himself, old guilt resurfacing as he looked at her. Lorna didn't reply, not having anything further to say on the matter. It had all been said years ago.

"We've been through this already Chris." She said, shaking her head. "I wasn't going to be part of something that could just sit idly by and not help an entire planet! I'm a Doctor not a monster!" Chris grinned at her and then took another look around the large office they were sat in.

"And look at you now, head of Earth's Xenoitarian Foundation." Lorna took a theatrical bow and then sat herself back next to Chris, letting her head loll back on the couch. "I still think it was a mistake," he added. "Don't tell me you don't miss practicing medicine…"

"They would have discharged me…" she interrupted him. "They needed to make an example of somebody and like I said Chris, I'm a Doctor, I could get a job anywhere. Whereas you, well? What else could you have put your hand to?" Shaking her head in mock seriousness Chris narrowed his eyes at her.

"You don't know that," Chris told her. "Lorna, you don't know that for sure, yeah we probably would have gone down a few ranks… perhaps gone back to the Academy…?" Lorna turned her head and looked at him through her lashes. "Fine fine," he said. "Cut to the chase?" he guessed and Lorna nodded. "Alright fine," taking a deep breath Chris turned towards her. "I want you on my ship Lorna," he said once more.

"You've already said that," Lorna reminded him.

"I've got the Enterprise," watching the small smile creep onto his face Lorna grinned at him and then punched his arm hard. "Oww! What was that for?!" Chris asked rubbing his bicep whilst giving Lorna a shocked look.

"Because,"

"Because what?"

"Just because," Lorna shrugged her shoulders feeling an immense amount of pride for her friend. "Well, congratulations Chris, I'm happy for you. You can finally stop recruiting all those poor sods."

"Speaking of which," Chris sat up straight. "Guess who's currently driving Commander Spock mad?"

"At the Academy?" she clarified and Chris nodded. "Who?" Lorna asked sarcastically, resting her chin on her hands and blinking rapidly at him as if she was listening to the most interesting thing she'd ever heard in her entire life.

"George Kirk's son." Chris answered and Lorna screwed up her face in response.

"Ahab finally got his white whale huh?" tucking a leg under the other Lorna rested her head against her hand.

"He's good Lor, he's really good. He's what Starfleet needs." His eyes were twinkling with excitement as he spoke.

"A liability?" Lorna joked.

"He reminds me of you…" Chris whispered.

"I'm not coming back Chris," Lorna started, knowing what he was up to and not falling for it.

"Be my CMO Lorna…"

"Chris!" Lorna exclaimed looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"You're the best Doctor I've ever known, I want the best Doctor on my ship." Lorna sank further down on the sofa and slowly started falling into Chris comically. Chris tried not to laugh, knowing she was trying to distract him. Pushing her back he watched as she fell all the way over onto the other side of the sofa, her face making a slapping sound against the cool material.

"I can't do it Chris, I'm sorry." Shaking her head Lorna looked down at her hands and then back up to him.

"Why not?" sitting back up Lorna shrugged her shoulders.

"It just doesn't hold the same… It's not for me. Plus who's to say they'd let me back?!" Smiling at Chris Lorna hoped he would listen which Chris Pike was known to be terrible at.

"I know a few people, I could pull a few strings. So what's stopping you Lorna? You're wasted here…"

"We do good work Chris…!" Lorna interrupted and Chris held up his hands.

"I'm not saying you don't but you could be doing so much more. Look what you did before this Lorna, you saved an entire planet for crying out loud! You were this close to being CMO on the Chatelet," Chris held his fingers close together in front of her face. "You could have had your pick of any ship, even gone back to the Academy and taught, been head of department. HQ…?"

"Don't give me your recruitment spiel Chris! And we saved that planet by not following orders?!" Lorna side-eyed him and shook her head. "I was young and idealistic," Lorna laughed.

"You were brave, one of the bravest people I've ever met." Chris countered but he knew he wasn't going to win this time, having to hand in her resignation had hurt Lorna, more than she had ever admitted to anybody he knew that for sure. She was a proud person but after all the dust had settled Chris knew she would have missed being a part of something special. That's precisely why he wanted her back.

"At least think about it," Chris whispered.

"Okay," Lorna replied and then a second later said, "Thought about it, it's a nope." It was Chris' turn to roll his eyes as the pair stood up.

"Are you happy?" he asked her and seeing the flicker of doubt pass over her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

"Gloriously," Lorna replied grinning.

"I don't believe you," giving her a tight hug Chris made his way out. "Aren't you going to wish me luck?"

"You don't need luck Chris, we both know that." Lorna smiled at him warmly. "Who's your FO?" she asked him.

"Spock," Chris answered and Lorna nodded her head.

"CMO?" she asked.

"They're giving me Puri?" Chris answered, not being entirely sure of who that was.

"He's good," Lorna confirmed.

"I take it you approve then?" Chris laughed, in the short time they'd been talking he'd seen that side of her that had made her such a good officer all that time ago. Dedication and selflessness. "How about that good luck?" he prompted her with a jab to the ribs with his elbow.

"Really?" she said rolling her eyes at his old superstitions.

"I'd like it all the same," he replied.

"Good luck Chris," Lorna kissed his cheek tenderly before watching him leave and then turned back to her desk, bumping into the large plant pot and finding herself sprawled out on the floor covered in foliage and soil.

* * *

Lorna dropped her coffee mug on the kitchen floor, the porcelain shattering and the brown liquid splashing all over the cabinets. She didn't look though, her focus was on the news that she had been watching for weeks on end. The destruction of an entire fleet. Could it even be possible? Lorna thought about all the people, not just the ones she knew but those she didn't. It was unthinkable and she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks.

When she'd cleared up her mug and kitchen she sat down on the sofa and picked up her phone, they'd be needing help, wouldn't they?

"There's nobody left to save," she whispered to herself as she threw her phone back down on the coffee table. Chris' face came to mind and it broke her heart, she couldn't help but think that she may have been dead as well had she accepted his offer. A strange mix of sorrow and relief flowed over her as she picked her phone back up. Opening it her fingers hovered over the number she had ready but a notification pinging and appearing on screen stopped her from continuing on.

The message read; **'Commander Lorna Heiland – Commission Reactivated. Report to Starfleet HQ immediately.'**

Lorna stared at the message for a full ten minutes, went and threw up, had a shot of tequila and then stared at the message some more.

"Sonofabitch!"

* * *

It hadn't changed a bit and as Lorna walked up to the main entrance of Starfleet HQ with all its metal and glass she found she had the same butterflies in her stomach as when she'd been there all those years ago. Smashing right into a glass window rather than the glass automatic door Lorna cried out in pain and held onto her nose. Walking through the foyer with her head back to stem the bleeding she asked the person on the front desk where her meeting was being held.

"Ugh, go right down the hall. Are you sure I can't get you anything?" the man asked Lorna.

"Nah, I'll be okay thanks." With a small wave in the general direction of the front desk Lorna made her way down the hall finally getting to where she needed to be and knocking on the door.

"Come in!" she heard him shout so made her way in.

"What the hell Lorna!" Chris shouted when he saw the state of her.

"I'm fine, you know you really should put some stickers on those windows." Letting go of her nose and setting her head straight Lorna sniffed and checked there was no blood on the back of her hand. "So, what's new?" Lorna asked nonchalantly and Chris couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh you know, nothing much. Can't walk…" Chris shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not permanent, you'll be up in no time." Lorna sat opposite him and smiled. She'd found out about Pike and what had happened to him through an old Academy classmate, the pure relief she had felt had been overwhelming and she'd cried for a good twenty minutes before getting a grip of herself.

"How do you know?" he asked, semi-serious.

"I'm a Doctor Chris," Lorna laughed and then cleared her throat. "I read your notes," she told him honestly shortly after.

"How did you get hold of my notes?! Whatever happened to Doctor, patient confidentiality?" Lorna waved a dismissive hand between them.

"That's more of a suggestion." She trailed off.

"I don't think it is Lorna?" Chris replied looking sceptical.

"You're a Vice Admiral now?" she said rhetorically as she raised her eyebrows at him and pretended to shine her nails on her arm.

"I am," Chris laughed.

"Fancy. Anyway, you reactivated me." She said pointedly.

"Not me personally," Chris defended himself. "I mean, I got my PA to do it but…" Chris waited for Lorna's retort.

"Why did you reactivate me Chris?" Lorna asked seriously.

"Because they need you out there," he answered.

"You drafted me Chris," she spoke plainly and took the seat opposite him. "I thought I'd made my feelings on the subject clear?" Chris nodded slowly. "Which by the way, I mean… If you had had your way I would have been up there with you and well… let's just say I would have been haunting the hell out of you for the rest of your days!"

"You did tell me but I've always had trouble listening," Chris grinned but could see that Lorna was genuinely angry. Angry for what happened, not just to him but everybody else. Angry that she wasn't there to help, just… angry. "I need you Lorna," he added. "The Enterprise needs you. And you won't admit it but you need it too, let somebody else sit behind your desk. Go practice medicine again. Go and put some crazy back into Starfleet." Lorna stared at her friend, she knew how close he'd been to death and what the lasting effects of his injuries meant to the quality of his life.

"I'm glad you're alive Chris," Lorna told him and Chris scoffed.

"Thanks," he answered perplexed.

"It means I can do it myself," rolling his eyes he watched as Lorna rubbed her hands over her face and then looked up to the ceiling.

"Starfleet sent an armada Lorna, crewed largely by available cadets." His words caught in his throat and it took him a moment to continue on. "They're young and dumb, they need someone on board like you. Someone with experience, someone with maturity…" Chris laughed when Lorna silently indicated to carry on showering her with praise. "On second thoughts…"

"Hey!" Lorna exclaimed.

"I'm going to give the ship to Kirk, Spock will be FO." He told her.

"Who's the CMO?" Lorna interrupted and Chris picked up one of his PADDs sat in front of him.

"Currently a Leonard McCoy, he replaced Doctor Puri when he was killed in action." Handing the PADD to Lorna he watched as she looked over it. "He saved my life," Chris added thinking back to his rescue.

"So we have him to blame do we?" Lorna commented as she continued to look over Leonard McCoy's file.

"I guess we do but I wanted you as CMO," he told her. Lorna looked up from the PADD and stared at Chris before standing and going to the replicator placed near the small kitchen in his office.

"Let me get this straight, you've reactivated my commission against my express wishes and want me to be CMO on the flagship of what remains of Starfleet?" Lorna turned her attention to the replicator. "Computer, one grass juice, one bowl of hummus." Picking up a spoon she made her way back, placing the juice in front of Chris. Spooning an impressive amount of hummus into her mouth she pointed the spoon at Chris. "That's the situation here?" she mumbled.

"In a nutshell," Chris replied, grimacing at the amount of hummus in Lorna's mouth. Lorna nodded her head slowly as if she was mulling over everything they had discussed when in fact she'd walked into his office already knowing what she wanted to say and what she was willing to do.

Lorna had never in her life (other than perhaps stealing a shuttlecraft to save an entire planet) not planned out every second of her vocation. From the moment she was five when she'd lined up all her stuffed animals and dolls in a row, wrapped their arms and legs in bandages and cared for them in their little beds she'd made she knew what she wanted to be and who she wanted to be. She was chaos incarnate, at school she split her cheek open falling off the bus. At University she constantly fell asleep in lectures or was kicked out of them for making her friends laugh but at the centre of it all was a calmness. Chris Pike had always known that and that's why he was glad she was stood in front of him now. Not practicing medicine had never been the plan and up until recent events Lorna hadn't realised how unfulfilled it had made her feel.

"So?" Chris asked tentatively and Lorna looked back down at the PADD.

"This McCoy seems to know what he's doing, leave him as CMO…" she started.

"Lorna I want you to be CMO…" Chris interrupted.

"Well tough Chris because you're not Captain of the Enterprise Kirk is and I'll speak to him directly if I have to. You seem to forget, I'm reinstated and as a Commander and Doctor I can request special discommendation…"

"Lorna I don't think that's the word you're looking for?" Chris tried not to smirk.

"Yeah it is, discommendation. It means I can decide what happens!" Lorna argued back.

"No, I don't think it does? Discommendation is a legal penalty in the Klingon Empire in which an individual is ceremonially shunned, stripped of honour and severely reduced in social status with few rights in Klingon society." Chris replied smoothly. "From what I remember," he added. Lorna looked at him sceptically.

"We'll agree to disagree," she told him. "That's all beside the point! I don't want to be CMO! There would be too many questions from the other Officers, I'd prefer to keep a low profile. Let McCallie carry on!"

"McCoy," again Chris corrected.

"Who's that?" Lorna asked perplexed and Chris found himself very quickly remembering how frustrating Lorna Heiland could be.

"Lorna!" he shouted and when he saw the smirk on her face pointed his finger at her knowingly. "Stop playing games with me!" he warned her before saying. "As long as you're on that ship I don't care. The Federation needs people like you out there, deep space, five year mission! It's going to be great I promise!" Chris beamed.

"I have a life here!" she said dramatically.

"No you do not!" Chris replied instantly. "You'll be practicing actual medicine again Lorna come on, you can't tell me that's not exciting!"

"It's not exciting," Lorna deadpanned. "Fine! Have it your way just don't come crying when Starfleet kick me out again, or I steal a shuttlecraft, or cause munity! Woe betide Chris! Woe betide!" Lorna raised her eyebrows at him forebodingly. Chris laughed and held up his hands in surrender.

"I won't I promise," he told her sincerely.

"And make sure you're walking by the time I get back." She told him seriously.

"Why?" he asked as she walked round his desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"So I can kick your arse."

* * *

Lorna felt so giddy she could feel her fingers fizzing, walking down one of the many corridors of the Enterprise she had to stop herself from actually squealing. Nothing had felt more right than how she felt right then and there heading towards the medical bay, she kept having to remind herself to stop grinning wildly at the other Officers and Crewman walking by.

Striding into the medical bay actually made her cry and she only just had enough time to get her emotions back in line before the rest of the medical crew walked in, she only recognised the CMO and strangely felt like she already knew him given she'd read his file in Pike's office. Giving him an overly enthusiastic wave she only got a very perplexed and solemn stare back, which of course then made sense to her given the fact that he knew nothing of her conversation with Pike.

No, now she just looked like a weirdo waving at her new CMO.

"Stay cool," she whispered to herself.

* * *

Lorna was getting pins and needles in her legs, McCoy had been talking for the past half hour about safety protocols and she couldn't take much more! Seeing there was a small table beside her Lorna slowly leant her weight onto it not expecting the thing to flip over, sending equipment flying and clanging across the floor. A deathly silence fell upon the medical bay and all eyes turned to her instantly, Lorna could do nothing but stand still and grimace.

"Sorry," she muttered, gaining sympathetic looks and a few giggles from the other members of staff.

"And you are?" McCoy asked her, his face thunder.

"Doctor McCoy Sir," Lorna answered nervously.

"That's my name?" McCoy replied.

"Of course yes! Sorry! My name is Lorna." McCoy looked at her gobsmacked.

"Lorna…?" He prompted.

"Oh! Lorna Heiland, nice to meet you. Sorry about that, struggle to stand up in one place for long periods of time. Didn't mean to tip the table over, they really should screw them down don't you think?! I mean won't the thing be sliding back and forth all day…?" Looking to her fellow medical staff for back-up she faltered when she saw a sea of blank faces. "Perhaps not?"

"Heiland!" McCoy interrupted and Lorna stopped talking, giving him a sweet smile.

"Yes Doctor," she answered and McCoy had no idea what to say. He was completely besotted.

"Nothing, alright people. Dismissed." McCoy gave her one last look and then went off to his office leaving the rest of the staff to get to work, not before hearing Lorna Heiland shout 'LET'S DO THIS PEOPLE!' at the top of her voice.

McCoy sat down behind his desk and looked around at what would be his life for the next five years, Lorna Heiland's face came to mind and he found himself smiling the smallest of smiles.


	23. Chapter 23

_**I can't leave these two alone! Lorna is by far my most favourite OC I've created and as long as little titbits of their life pop into my head I'll carry on sharing them with you. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Lorna snapped her hand back quickly and stuck her thumb in her mouth, groaning at the pain she scowled at the offending drawer. Stupid thing shut too quickly, how was she to know that you had to push and release?! Flapping her hand in the air she grabbed her coffee and went back to bed one, hopping up and crossing her legs she carefully placed her cup in front of her and looked to the closed main door in front of her. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. How could it be possible? How could nothing happen at all on the entire ship when it was her shift? McCoy had got a cracking partial amputation! What did she get?! A self-inflicted sore thumb.

"This sucks," Lorna whispered to herself as she took a sip of coffee.

She tried not to blink for as long as possible.

Her coffee tasted weird, why did her coffee taste weird? Hopping back down Lorna went back to the replicator and stared at it for a good four minutes.

"What do I want?" drawing an imaginary circle with her finger in the air as she contemplated her choices Lorna couldn't settle on one thing in particular. Looking behind her she noticed Kostas at their desk. "Kostas!" she shouted at them from across the bay.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the mess, do you want anything?" standing and tapping her foot Lorna watched as Kostas just stared at her.

"What day is it?" Lorna creased her brow.

"Thursday?" she answered tentatively.

"Shawarma," nodding Lorna made her way out of the medical bay and headed towards the mess. She didn't know what she wanted but she wanted something. She actually managed to guess when the turbolift came to a stop this time! Even with her eyes closed and fingers in her ears. Commander Lajeunesse walked by a short time later and tried to give her a high five.

"No!" Lorna said sternly as she shook her head at the man.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Forgot!" Lajeunesse replied turning his high five into a weird, embarrassed wave as they went by one another. Lorna continued on, marvelling at all the people getting on with their days, going places and doing things. She was going to miss the ship, their five year mission was coming to an end and they (McCoy and her) had decided to take positions back on Earth (much to the protestations of pretty much the entire crew (they were very popular)). McCoy wanted nothing more than to just be on soil again and had been offered a very nice cushy position at Starfleet Headquarters and Lorna wanted to take up Paper Mache which she didn't actually fully know what it was but she'd heard about it and it sounded fun (she had also been offered a pretty sweet deal at the Academy (which coincidently was going to be her first project, to make a Paper Mache Academy)).

Turning the corner and starting down another corridor she cringed when she saw Ensign Shah coming in the opposite direction.

"Oh shi…" plastering on a smile she watched in horror as the small little annoying thing noticed her and grinned wildly.

"Doctor!" Lorna stopped walking and actually considered running away from him but then she remembered Kostas wanted Shawarma so did a little foxtrot, dance thing with her feet before continuing on.

"Ensign," she replied politely as she stepped up her speed.

"I just wanted to let you know that the rash has gone!" Lorna gritted her teeth.

"Great news!" giving him two thumbs up (Fonzie style) Lorna didn't stop walking but silently cursed when Ensign Shah turned direction and began walking alongside her.

"All thanks to you! Hey, you never got back to me about joining the fossil club Ensign Akhtar and I run?" Lorna had completely forgotten about that!

"I didn't?" she answered quickly.

"No," Shah was getting suspicious.

"Oh?" she had no idea what to say and she walking pretty quickly and she running out of breath.

"Do you want me to send you the details?" Lorna laughed and waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh that won't be necessary Ensign, I'll find my way!" she told him panicked.

"But you don't know where we meet and Crewman Yau uses the room every other Wednesday so…"

"I'll figure it out Ensign!" Lorna all but shouted at him. "Well, I better be going I've got a very important… operation to carry out?" Lorna watched as Shah looked at her sceptically. "If it's meant to be Ensign it's meant to be, that's what I always say!" slapping him on the arm, perhaps a little too hard because she saw him wince Lorna grinned and all but broke into a run towards the mess. Once inside the mess she took a minute to get her breath back and then the smell of food hit her and she immediately doubled over with nausea. Making a very guttural retching sound Lorna lost all the colour in her face and messily leant against the wall. A passing Lieutenant caught sight of Doctor Heiland and ran over just as she was putting her head between her legs.

"Are you okay?" Lorna grunted in response. "What happened?" Lorna peered up at the kind face of Lieutenant Melcher.

"I feel sick," she mumbled as she dared to stand up with the help of Melcher. "The smell, it knocked me sick." Shaking her head Lorna gave Melcher a lopsided grin and Melcher looked at her knowingly.

"How long have you been feeling like this?" the Lieutenant asked as she guided her over to an empty table.

"Not long I suppose?" Lorna remarked absentmindedly.

"Do you think you've eaten something funny?" Lorna shook her head. "A bug?" Again, Lorna shook her head. "Doctor Heiland, forgive me for saying so but, is there any chance you could be pregnant?!" Melcher whispered the last word and did a strange mime where she pretended to have a large belly and Lorna sat frozen, staring at the woman as if she just told her she'd run over her cat. "Doctor Heiland?" Melcher repeated, worried at how still Lorna was sitting.

"Pregnant?" Lorna whispered, they'd planned it for a while but Lorna hadn't expected that it would have worked first time?! She'd kind of been looking forward to the 'trying' part.

"I just know that when I was pregnant the smell of food had the exact same effect on me?" Lorna nodded slowly. "Is there anything I can do Doctor Heiland?"

"Can you get me a Shawarma?"

* * *

Making her way back to the med bay Lorna missed her deck three times before walking through the door with a very angry looking Kostas waiting for her.

"Where did you go?" Lorna didn't answer but just handed over the wrapped up snack and then made her way over to her desk. Kostas was neither concerned nor interested in what was going on with Lorna Heiland so just went and ate their nosh. Lorna sat and stared at a PADD for forty five minutes before casually standing and stretching her arms above her head. Making a very loud yawning sound she casually (not at all casually) walked over to one of the equipment cabinets and ever so casually (not at all casually) pulled out a hypospray. Making a strange smacking noise with her lips Lorna scurried into McCoy's office and closed the door behind her. Looking down at the hypospray she took a deep breath and placed it against her neck. Taking a sample of blood she craned her neck to look at the readings and immediately saw the spike in hCG.

"Interesting."

* * *

"I'm pregnant," Lorna told McCoy as she brought her mug of tea up to her mouth and took a long, slow slurp later that day.

"Yeah?" McCoy didn't look up from his book as he sat comfortably in their quarters.

"Yeah," Lorna replied knowing full well he hadn't heard what she'd said. "Do you fancy a brew?" she asked him as she picked up her own book and sat beside him.

"No thank you Darlin'," McCoy replied as he flipped over the page. McCoy got stuck on the first word of the sentence he had started to read, over and over again he just kept reading 'The'. Slowly setting his book down in his lap he looked to Lorna who was reading (pretending to read) her own book. "Lorna?" McCoy said slowly.

"Yeah?" Lorna replied without looking up.

"Say that again,"

"What? Yeah?" Lorna answered.

"Say what you said before, before you asked me if I wanted a tea." Lorna looked up from her book and looked at McCoy who had a strange mix of anger, fear, surprise and elation playing on his features.

"Oh right, yeah. I said I was pregnant." She couldn't even keep a straight face as she told him.

"Pregnant?" McCoy repeated slowly.

"Yes Leonard, up the duff, bun in the oven, in the family way! Preggers, preggo…"

"How do you know?" the words were out before he could help himself and Lorna could do nothing but laugh at him.

"Well, when two people love each other very much…"

"Damnit Lorna!" Scooting forward he tossed the book in her lap to one side and took hold of her hands.

"But, we've only tried one time?" McCoy creased his brow in confusion.

"I guess you're pretty good at it," Lorna shrugged. "You could probably get that lamp pregnant just by looking at it!" she joked at she jutted her head toward the lamp that sat next to the sofa.

"Are you sure?" he started but Lorna just started laughing at him.

"I know Leonard, I made sure." She told him seriously knowing that he'd drag her down to the medical bay and run a full body scan if she made one more joke. McCoy broke into a beaming smile and pulled her to him, bear hugging the living daylights out of her until she had to tell him to let go.

"We're having a baby Lorna," he told her as he looked at her lovingly.

"I'm having a baby Leonard, you're going to be a Father." Lorna replied simply and it was McCoy's turn to feel nauseous.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" McCoy asked suddenly.

"You got me all wrong Doll, I was fixin' on tellin' ya I just couldn't find the right words see!" Lorna's exaggerated film noir accent was laughable but the way her eyebrow was arched and the fact she pretended to smoke a cigar as she spoke made McCoy bark with laughter.

"Are you feelin' alright?" he asked as his hand naturally went to Lorna's tummy.

"The smell of food makes me feel sick," she told him. "And I think I've gone off humus?!" looking distraught McCoy gave Lorna a kiss. Looking at the time McCoy looked from Lorna to the door of their quarters. "You want to do a full physical on me don't you?" she guessed.

"I mean, it wouldn't hurt…" McCoy started but Lorna held up a hand.

"Leonard," Lorna said in a warning tone. "Don't even think of…" McCoy jumping up stopped her from finishing her sentence.

"It doesn't matter! I've just remembered I have an emergency med kit in the bedroom."

"Why do you have an emergency med kit in the bedroom Leonard?" Lorna asked bemused.

"You're kidding right Darlin'? I'm married to you aren't I?" and with that she watched as he hurried off to the bedroom.

"And so it begins."

* * *

"You look gorgeous!" McCoy shouted from the kitchen as Lorna looked at herself in the mirror in the bedroom.

"I look like a bloated Smurf!" she shouted back before she walked to the kitchen. Standing in front of McCoy Lorna turned from left to right to show off the hideous blue smock she was wearing. Maternity wear sucked!

"You do not," McCoy replied trying not to laugh. "In five days' time we'll be back on Earth where you can put your feet up and think of nothing but nothing."

"In five days' time we'll be back on Earth where I need to find us a home whilst you start your new job!" Lorna stared at him incredulously. "Whose idea was this?!" she asked as she pointed her stomach.

"You won't." McCoy answered as he handed her a cup of tea.

"What?" Lorna did not have the patience for his games. McCoy smirked and picked up a PADD that was on the counter beside him, handing it to Lorna he watch avidly as she looked at the images of their new home. "Leonard?" Lorna whispered.

"Yeah Darlin'?" McCoy replied grinning, he could already see the tears well up in her eyes (which wasn't unusual, Lorna had been crying for the last eight and half month's straight).

"This is our house?" she croaked.

"That's our house, if you like it?" McCoy leant against the counter as Lorna flicked back and forth on all the images and then coming across the one of the garden turned it to him and pointed at it with a stunned expression on her face.

"Room for chickens?" she asked quietly and McCoy nodded at which point Lorna blubbed so hard she made a snot bubble (it wasn't pretty). "We're getting chickens!" she repeated overjoyed as she dropped the PADD on the table and wrapped her arms around McCoy's neck. "I love you so much!" she told him as she carried on hugging him. "You're the best person ever! The best!"

"Love you too Darlin', you sure you like it?" he asked laughing.

"I love it," she told him. "It's perfect, better than perfect! You're perfect!"

"Good," McCoy chuckled when she didn't let go of his neck. "Lorna, I need to go to work now."

"Just a little more?" she asked and smiled when she felt him hug her back.

"I really need to go," pulling away he gave her a wink. "Make sure you say hi to Papa Smurf will ya?" McCoy just about dodged Lorna's swinging arm as he continued to laugh and run from their quarters leaving Lorna staring daggers after him but also supremely happy and proud.

* * *

Lorna couldn't get comfortable, her legs ached, her pelvis, everything! Being pregnant sucked! She had resigned herself to waddling, not being able to eat her favourite foods and Kostas and Vallo consistently laughing every time she dropped something and had to do a strange sort of bending thing with one leg and then falling to her hands and knees before being able to get back up again. She'd managed to scan her own stomach instead of the leg of Ensign Liston who was mightily surprised to find out his limb was expecting. There was zero definition between her feet and legs anymore and changes in temperature made her faint. She reminded McCoy of a turtle stuck on its back when she tried to get up from the sofa. Crewman Abo always made a beeline for her and planted his grubby mitts on her stomach every time she was out and about on the ship, Lieutenant Commander Parker insisted on knitting the ugliest little cardigans for her and Captain Kirk had (much to his delight) coined the moniker 'Baby Bones' which was just wrong on so many levels!

People sucked.

Being pregnant sucked.

Lorna was done.

"Get out," she mumbled to her bump as she sat at her desk. "Get out, get out, get out!"

"Doctor Heiland, medical emergency on the bridge." Lorna couldn't believe her ears, grabbing a med kit she started out of the bay. She should have begun her leave early, why had she insisted on working till the end? Who was she trying to impress? McCoy had told her, he'd been right damnit! Leaving the turbolift she shuffled down the corridor towards the bridge as fast as she could and when the door opened and she was greeted by everybody shouting 'Surprise' at her she screamed at the top of her voice, turned back around and started walking back to the turbolift. She didn't stop even when she heard Kirk running after her calling her name, it was only the fact that he was quicker than her and managed to plant himself between her and door that she stopped.

"Lorna," he started.

"Nope," Lorna interrupted as she shook her head which made Kirk laugh and Lorna even angrier.

"Lorna,"

"Nope," she repeated. "Do you have any idea? Any. Idea? I hate surprises, hate parties, I don't want people seeing me… puffy! I scare easily, I can still feel my heart beating Captain! Whose idea was this?!" Kirk looked at her like a sad puppy. "Don't you give me those eyes!" she warned him.

"It was my idea…" Kirk started.

"Of course it was," rolling her eyes Lorna tried to step around him but he moved also. "Captain, if you don't let me pass I'm unlikely to be responsible for my actions." Kirk laughed and held out his arms.

"Come on, give Uncle Jim a hug!" he answered jovially. Lorna stared at him, she was lost for words. "No?" Kirk knew he'd immediately made a huge mistake. "Listen, stay for five minutes. People want to give you some gifts and there's cake."

"Cake?" Lorna's interest was piqued.

"With frosting," Kirk knew he had her.

"What colour?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Yellow?" Lorna grinned and turned back round. "Excellent! Sorry for scaring you."

"That's alright, if you'd induced the labour I would have kissed you!" Kirk laughed as they walked onto the bridge.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later**

"Leonard," Lorna whispered into McCoy's ear as he slept. "Leonard," she whispered again.

Nothing.

Tutting Lorna dragged herself out of bed and decided to go for a walk. She was having contractions but they were pretty far apart, she wasn't even sure if they weren't just Braxton Hicks? She wasn't due for another week and they were arriving on Earth in less than nine hours. She'd resorted to wearing McCoy's pyjama bottoms and the biggest t-shirt she could find, her feet were like swollen pain au chocolat so she forgo footwear and padded off barefoot down one of the many corridors on the ship. For about twenty minutes she just walked around, different departments and decks. She'd bumped into a few people but they were wise another not to say anything to her, apart from Commander Moreira who complimented her on her attire and was rewarded with a nice little four letter work followed by 'you'.

As she travelled down in the turbolift her waters broke.

"Oh shitting hell!" Lorna whispered to herself. Instructing the turbolift to take her to crew quarters Lorna squeezed her eyes shut against the first very real contraction that she felt. "What the hell?!" She knew giving birth was painful but holy mother of god. Stumbling towards her quarters Lorna barely kept it together, McCoy was going to have a fit! She could be in labour for hours, the ship was prepping for Earth, everybody basically had their out of office on and were ready to go!

Walking into their quarters Lorna went straight to the bedroom.

"Computer lights!" she shouted and then looked at McCoy who was still sleeping. "Leonard," she said. "Leonard?" Nothing. "MCCOY!" Lorna shouted at the top of her voice and watched as her Husband shot up in bed and almost fell to the floor.

"Whaaa?!" rubbing his eyes McCoy looked at Lorna who was stood over him with her hands on her hips (what was left of them). "What?" he asked rather angrily and then went wide-eyed when Lorna screamed out in pain and grabbed hold of her stomach. No man has ever moved so fast than Leonard H. McCoy jumping from the bed and coming to stand beside Lorna.

"My waters have broken," she told him as she panted. McCoy just nodded like one of those dogs that people put in the back of their car. "Contractions are every twelve minutes," she added as she came to stand upright again.

"You're early," McCoy mumbled as he grabbed his emergency med kit.

"No? You think?" Lorna replied mockingly. "It could be hours yet," she started but McCoy was already pulling on his clothes.

"We need to go to medical," he interrupted her.

"No Leonard," Lorna told him sternly.

"What do you mean no? Lorna, in case you hadn't realised you're having the baby." McCoy had never seen the look Lorna gave him in that moment before and looking back over his ninety nine years of life, two children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren later he never did again but he knew, he knew that if he wanted to remain alive and reach that ninety ninth birthday he needed to think very carefully about what he said next. "What do you want me to do?" he asked cautiously.

"I don't want to be stuck in medical Leonard, it could be hours yet. I'm just going to stay here alright?" McCoy nodded and took her hand.

"Alright Darlin'," he replied quietly. "Can I get you anything?" Lorna wasn't quite sure whether or not she preferred cranky McCoy or soppy McCoy.

"No thank you," she answered. When she noticed him hovering Lorna rolled her eyes and asked him what he wanted.

"Can I just give you a quick scan?" he asked hesitantly. "I'll be quick," he added.

"Fine," Lorna stood and let McCoy scan her.

"Looking good," he told her. "I'll go make you a tea." Watching him leave the bedroom Lorna called after him. "Yeah?" he asked looking at her.

"I've changed my mind Leonard, I don't want to give birth!" McCoy smiled at her lovingly and then pulled her into a big hug. "You'll do great, and just think, we'll have a little one at the end of it that we can mess up and ruin the rest of their lives." Lorna laughed and looked up at him.

"Go get me my tea."

* * *

So it turns out Lorna didn't have to wait hours for little McCoy junior to enter the world. Half an hour after McCoy had made her a tea Lorna had felt the undeniable urge to push and a quick check later McCoy confirmed she was fully dilated.

"We need to go to medical Lorna!" McCoy shouted at her.

"How Leonard?! I have a baby's head between my legs!" Lorna shouted back.

"We could transport…?"

"NOT. A. CHANCE."

"Well I'm comming Kostas!" McCoy left the bedroom where Lorna was on her knees. A second later he was back and kneeling beside her.

"You're going to have to deliver this baby Leonard!" Lorna looked at him seriously.

"We don't have any medical equipment Lorna!" McCoy replied panicked.

"What do we need?! I'll push you catch!"

And that's how Blake L. Hatfield-McCoy came into the world, on the floor in the crew quarters on board of the USS Enterprise. Mum and baby were fine, Dad not so much. Weeks later when Kirk had taken McCoy out to 'wet the baby's head' downtown from Starfleet HQ he asked him how it had felt delivering his own child.

"Spectacular," McCoy had answered.

"What about seeing Lorna give birth?"

"Like watching my favourite bar burn down…"

* * *

 **Two Years Later**

Watching Blake in the garden from the porch Leonard took a sip of his Lemonade.

"Lorna!" he shouted back into the house.

"What?" he heard her shout back from somewhere in the house.

"Get out here," McCoy turned back to watch Blake but heard the undeniable sound of Lorna banging into something and swearing under her breath. A moment later she walked out holding her hand up to her forehead and sucking her teeth.

"Who left the cabinet door open in the kitchen?" she asked accusingly.

"You did?" McCoy answered not even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

"Ha! How convenient." Lorna answered glumly.

"Come here, let me take a look." Lorna sidled over to McCoy and let him take a look at the bump on her head. Prodding it with his finger Lorna winched and pulled away but McCoy pulled her back. "Quit being such a baby," he admonished her placing a gentle kiss on her forehead and asking if that had made it feel better. Lorna smiled and blushed.

"A little," she replied.

"Only a little?" Giving her the most keenly passionate kiss imaginable McCoy watched as Lorna swayed on her feet and gave him one of those smiles she only gave him.

"Well maybe more than a little," she told him not imagining anything being more perfect than that moment she found herself in.


End file.
